


Aphrodisiac

by theJuniorRoyals



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Demigods, M/M, Not slowburn, can't write slowburn to save my life, haechan becomes important too, i can do what i want with my characters, jungwoo is very negative, son of aphrodite jungwoo, son of hades lucas, tags to be updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-04-27 00:16:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14413545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theJuniorRoyals/pseuds/theJuniorRoyals
Summary: In a perfect world, everyone would get along in harmony. Everyone would love everyone and be so willing to spread love and joy and happiness. In a perfect world, the sun would always be shining, and the grass would always be as green as ever, flowing in the gentle breeze and feel so soft among the fingertips. The flowers would always be in bloom and the birds would sing their songs. In a perfect world, well, everything would be perfect.In a perfect world, Kim Jungwoo wouldn’t have to return to Camp Half-Blood.(Son of Aphrodite Jungwoo is dragged back to Camp Half-Blood despite his protests and he wishes he were anywhere but there. Some evil spirit lurking in the back of his mind decides to get under the skin of one of Hades' children just for the Hell of it, pun intended. Spoiler alert, he regrets it somewhere down the line.)





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> first--THIS IS NOT MY STORY IDEA! this general idea and demigod assortment for jungwoo and lucas comes from a tweet by user junhoons, so the idea goes to them. the plot, however, is mine.  
> now, hi. i don't write for the nct fandom, i write for seventeen and newly sf9 but i decided to take a dangerous gamble and try out nct fics. not sure how this will go.  
> please note: not everything in this fic will be spot on with what is written in the percy jackson-verse. i added my own elements, and while they might not be correct, i wanted them in the story. somethings may have also been removed as well.  
> second, this is chaptered, obviously, i could not fathom putting this whole story into one chapter like i usually do, so that's dangerous for me as well. i'm kind of slow and lazy when it comes to writing so definitely don't expect perfectly timed updates, but i will try my best to finish this fic, i swear. when it comes to chaptered fics, i just cant make them extremely long, so expect short chapters (min 4-5k), but there will probably be over ten chapters. maybe.  
> i know this fic isnt my greatest right now, but if you like my style, i swear its much better in my seventeen fics. if this goes well, i will write for nct more often and put a little more effort into it.  
> please leave good comments and support my endeavors in the nct fic world, thanks for reading, if you do.

In a perfect world, everyone would get along in harmony. Everyone would love everyone and be so willing to spread love and joy and happiness. In a perfect world, the sun would always be shining, and the grass would always be as green as ever, flowing in the gentle breeze and feel so soft among the fingertips. The flowers would always be in bloom and the birds would sing their songs. In a perfect world, well, everything would be perfect.

In a perfect world, Kim Jungwoo wouldn’t have to return to Camp Half-Blood.

Nobody would ever be able to piece together that Jungwoo despises the place by judging his looks, or even his personality. This secret was something well hidden behind facades of happiness, and the spirits of his two demigod friends. They are well aware of the secret hatred Jungwoo carries for the camp but make all he effort in the world to drag him back every summer. No amount of persuasion from Jungwoo could get his two best friends to leave the camp they grew up at, and he wished that it would work.

Having just turned 20, he felt like he was too old for this camp, felt like it was merely child’s play, but he knew that there were people resided here who were older than him, and a few he knew and were fond of. Said friends were currently dragging him by the strands of hair on his head up to the camp’s entrance, which was still a not-so-ignorable half a mile away.

“God,” Jungwoo sighed, shaking off Jaehyun’s hand on his bicep for the twentieth time. “I wish I had beauty powers so I could seduce you and then convince you that coming here isn’t a good idea.”

Jaehyun barked a laugh. “You’re the son of Aphrodite, Jungwoo, not a siren. No amount of you whining will let us take you back to Chicago.”

Jungwoo grumbled. “I’m not from Chicago.” His friends ignored him.

“Plus,” said the shorter boy to his left. “Sirens don’t even exist.”

“I think if I were a siren it would be much more worthwhile. First of all, I would be gorgeous, even more so than I already am, second, I have the power to control people, which is amazing, and third, I wouldn’t have to come to this dumbass kid’s camp!” Jungwoo shouted, but his cries were only heard by his friends as they bounced off the tree trunks and echoed into the leaves above them.

It was a hot day. Jungwoo was at least glad that he had a magnificent water’s edge cabin waiting for him and knew it would be cooler later on the night, and he could go for a swim, or just sit on the dock and feel the breeze. The thought of that was pushing him on over the rocks and dirt, occasionally adjusting the strap of his backpack and pushing his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose when they slid down.

Both of his friends seemed to not mind the huffing coming from him and happily hiked on, their bright attitudes sparkling with the sun that was peeking through the canopy.

“It’s not a kid’s camp, Jungwoo.” The boy on his left, namely Ten, spoke up after a few minutes had passed.

“Please. All the athletic kids are running around in their armor and swinging their swords like they’re playing pretend in their backyard. Actually, it is that, except their backyard is miles away from home.”

“Jungwoo, it kind of is concerning how much you think this camp is a waste.” Jaehyun side-eyed him.

“Because it is! I just don’t—”

“Wait, I’m not finished.” Jaehyun cut him off. “I know in all your years of being a demigod and living as a normal boy by the school year and son of the goddess of beauty by summer months you’ve never faced danger. None of us here can say we’ve looked in the face of danger like some at the camp have, but it’s real, and it exists. Those few that have seen the eyes of evil, that’s what this camp is for. For some of them, this camp is all they have.

“It’s a dangerous world for some demigods, and this camp exists to make sure all demigods know how to protect themselves and others. I know you hate I and I know you find it useless, but it’s important that you can protect yourself.”

“Do you think I’m not capable of that?”

“That’s not what he means, Jungwoo.” Ten spoke up. “Sometimes protecting yourself is more than just building mental walls and running away from strangers.”

Jungwoo sighed. He would argue, but he knew there was no point. Ten and Jaehyun were not like Jungwoo. They appreciated the life around them. They loved the camp and they loved the demigods they met. To Jungwoo, all the demigods flaunted like they were better than everyone. He wanted nothing to do with any demigod who dared step up to the throne like they deserved it.

If anyone found out that this was how Jungwoo actually thought, they would be shocked, first and foremost, but they also probably would not want him in the camp. While this seems like he ideal situation for Jungwoo, he had nowhere else to go over the summer as his two lifelong friends devoted their social lives to the camp in the summertime.

Jungwoo had known Jaehyun longer than he had known Ten. They met in middle school and were inseparable since, Jaehyun claims that demigods attract demigods, or some other type of gay shit he would be likely to say. On the topic, Jaehyun never hid who he was. That’s something Jungwoo could say he wished he could relate to.

He met Ten in high school, and the three were stuck together with cement, not glue, because wherever one went, the other two followed. It was a true shock when everyone found out they were of god decent, and Jungwoo being Jungwoo, was unsurprised when he found out his mother was Aphrodite.

Jaehyun, he discovered, was the son of Poseidon. This was expected as he adapted to the water like a fish and was constantly looking for some type of adventure that had to do with crossing the ocean or even climbing a mountain to see a waterfall. In a way, Jaehyun was graceful like the water. He could manipulate it to make it float in midair, and Jungwoo was jealous of this power.

Ten was an oddball, but Jungwoo could never see himself leaving his side. He was unveiled as the offspring of Artemis, which made him that much more special due to him being a creation of life and lunar abilities rather than the Goddess herself, and it made complete sense to Jungwoo and Jaehyun. It was almost like Ten himself was Artemis. He had incredible aim, whether it be something as small as tossing paper into the trash or a game of darts (which he always won), and he had suck a knack for the night sky. Ten liked to call the three of them the essential elements. He was the moon, Jaehyun was the sun, and Jungwoo was the stars.

When it came down to deciphering himself, Jungwoo found no tangible power. Like earlier mentioned by the boys, sirens weren’t real in the demigod world, and his beauty wasn’t enough to have people weak at the knees. It was ironic that his mother was the goddess of love, as the aura that surrounded him was possibly the opposite. He had trouble clinging on to someone who he found worthwhile, and it seemed no one thought that he was worth their time either. As cocky as he may seem, he’s glad he wasn’t the ugly son of some low tier god, but he did wish he could do something useful with the goddess blood in his veins.

He looked down as he continued the trek up to the archways of the camp’s entrance, not seeing it in sight and sighing as he knew it was at least a half an hour away. The bag on his back was starting to feel heavy and he was quickly growing tired of the crunching of the dry earth under his sneakers. He knew his friends didn’t mind this at all.

After a long hike up the barren trail and scattered conversations that Jungwoo took no part in, they reached the stone archway with Greek letters that Jungwoo couldn’t understand. Jaehyun was the only of the three that could understand it, but it made no difference at this point as they passed the invisible barrier that kept mortals from the demigods and under the stone arch. They descended a hill and it opened up into a vast camp, to the far right was cabins, rows upon rows of cabins. He spotted his right away, the one closest to the water, and he fought against the urge to run straight down there and decorate like they usually do.

To the far left was a big open field where he could see demigods battling it out and some just sitting and soaking up the sun. He knew that was likely to be him in a few days, or even a few minutes.

Behind the cabins was a lake. There were people taking a dip and there was even a canoe gliding across the surface.

In the middle of it all were three big structures. He knew the large, house like one was the rec hall, where the meals were held. The second one, which looked similar to the first, was where everything that wasn’t meals were held, like meetings, or gatherings when it was raining. The third was a large fire pit where every night they would sit and talk to each other, or even address the crowd as a whole. It was nights like that that made Jungwoo love but also hate the camp.

Love because he was an outdoorsy kind of guy, and the fire pit and the open air definitely made him feel at home. Hate because he was surrounded by people who did nothing but brag about their lineage. After years of being here, he found the most entitled people were either sons and daughters of Athena or sons and daughters of Hades. Jungwoo was tired of hearing about their war and trickery strategies after the first night. He always tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, but always let himself down.

Ten pulled Jungwoo out of his stupor and down the rocky hill where everyone was greeting each other from long months away from each other. Jungwoo plastered on his signature fake smile and greeted everyone as if he actually missed them.

Okay, Jungwoo wasn’t a complete asshole, he liked some of the people he met, but most of the demigods that liked him, he could really have a better life without them. He recognized a few of the people he could tolerate, Kun from a few cabins down. He doesn’t know what his decent is but he was one of the actually nice people, and Jungwoo tended to stick around with him. He saw Jisung and Chenle, the half-brothers decent from Hermes. Those two were much younger than he was, so he wasn’t going to complain about this being a kid’s camp when, in his eyes, they were literally kids.

There were also people he didn’t like so much, like Taeyong, who was son of Dionysus and put on a grand show every time like it was his job. Jungwoo regretfully smiled at him when they passed, but made no other move at a greeting. He made sure he could avoid him at all costs.

There was one other person who got under his skin quite often, but he said nothing of this in front of his friends, or at least Ten, because he knew the boy had quite the infatuation with him. His name was Johnny. He was also the son of Artemis, which was probably what drew Ten to him, but Jungwoo found this odd as he doesn’t know why someone would be interested in someone who was technically their half sibling. He let Ten deal with that on his own, however. He disliked Johnny due to his loud personality and tendency to act like he was bigger than everyone. He, like Taeyong, avoided him as much as possible.

He stood alone in the crowd of greetings, only throwing people the occasional smile if they looked his way. No one made any great move to come up to him or to ask him how was his year away from camp. It made him worry for a moment that his exterior was breaking, and people could see the truth. It was the last thing he wanted, even if it made him seem conceited.

Jungwoo decided he needed to get out of this crowd and get some air, and he stalked away from the bustling sea of bodies and towards his cabin. This time, the grinding of the gravel under the soles of his shoes was soothing, and the promise of his second home was looming in the distance. He quickened his pace.

Upon crossing the threshold, the woody scent enraptured him and he sighed, contentedly this time. There was one big room to his left, which had the three beds that were reserved for he and his partners in crime, and to the right was an open living room with two couches and the bean bags that Jungwoo remembers bringing in two years ago, and they looked to be in good shape which was good news for him.

He walked over to the back door and slid open the white curtains and threw open the glass door, letting the curtains flutter in the breeze. He could smell the water instantly, and he saw the slowly setting sun glistening of the rippling surface of the lake. The water was right below his feet, under the small balcony the cabin offered. This was what he loved about the camp. The sight of the distant trees against the sunset, and the warmest colors of the sky reflecting off the water and into Jungwoo’s eyes. The soft wind tousling his hair and running through the fine holes in his shirt. The small home he got to share with his two best friends every night for the next two months. This is what brought him back. He knew, to his demise, this feeling would flee very soon at the welcome back bonfire.

He turned around and headed to the shared room, the beds were left exactly as he had last seen them, and upon opening the drawers he saw his clothes were untouched, no dust or debris in sight. The window of their room was casting streaks of light onto the wooden flooring, and Jungwoo threw back the curtains to let the sun in fully and warm the house, knowing by nightfall it would be chilly on the grounds. He set his bag on his bed and opened it, taking out the few extra clothes he brought and other necessities.

While taking care of the cabin he could hear people outside running around and shouting at each other, and he figured that while he should go back out, he really couldn’t leave the comfort and solitude of the cabin. If he was needed, Jaehyun or Ten would come and get him. He would stay here all night if he could.

Sure enough, the two came strolling along together to fetch him about ten minutes later and managed to drag him out of the home as he was grumbling about hating everyone and not wanting to go. Yes, the urge to stay in was greater than the urge to be sitting around all of the demigods of the camp, but he didn’t mind tonight as it was one of the biggest bonfires they usually hold in all the time they are there. 

The sun had set and the sky was a deep purple, the stars were bright against the canvas of the nighttime, but there was no moon in the sky. From where they currently were, only a few feet away from the cabin, Jungwoo could hear the chatter of everyone eager to start their summer term at Camp Half-Blood, and could see the orange glow of the large fire. He took a deep breath and put on his fake face once more, ready for an agonizing hour in front of the warm fire.

His friends led him to a spot closer to the outside of the ring of people surrounding the blazing mass of wood in the center instead the inside like usual, but he was grateful for this. He felt the heat rise up to the back of his neck and it sent shivers down his spine, ironically. A bonfire was something Jungwoo didn’t get to experience often whenever he was not at camp. Realistically, he had two friends, the two that were here, who understood him the best, and one friend who had no idea about his true heritage, and was not inclined to let them know.

He was a city dweller. Maybe that’s what he despised about this camp, but it didn’t make total sense to him either as he loved the nature of the place. He didn’t live in the city, either, but on the outskirts nestled neatly into the suburbs, surrounded by people who shared a similar wealth as him, but it wasn’t something he flaunted.

Jaehyun and Ten knew that Jungwoo grew up wealthy, and admittedly, Jungwoo himself knew it mixed with his personality too harshly sometimes, but deep down, he was humble. Just… a little too deep where he couldn’t access the want to be surrounded by these people every summer.

Jungwoo doesn’t know truly why he dislikes it so much. He doesn’t even know if his friends know. It really is something he has yet to figure out himself.

Like expected, the demigods stuck to their little clans and it drove Jungwoo mad. He had a headache by the end of the night thanks to the awfully loud children of Athena who love to make their presence known. There was also a small group of four who was to the right of Jungwoo who were cracking jokes the whole time, and yes, Jungwoo did actually laugh at some of them. At some point, after the camp leaders had said their welcoming speeches and let everyone do whatever they wanted with no curfew for the first night, it was considerably wild. Jungwoo sighed, stretched out, and headed to the lake’s edge.

The stars were sparkling in the sky and all he could see was black, and a very slight horizon where the water met the trees. He could hear the lapping of the shoreline on the rocks and Jungwoo bent his knees to lower himself to the ground. He squatted there, just listening for a second. He heard crickets, the splashing of water on a far-out shoreline, and the screams and chants of people back at the bonfire. For a second, he enjoyed it. Then he heard a horn from the bonfire and remembered exactly who he was dealing with, and hated it again.

He dipped his hand into the water and let the cool silky liquid coat his fingers, and he couldn’t wait until it was nice enough to swim in it.

Waiting. Jungwoo really didn’t want to wait because that meant the more time he knew he would be stuck at this camp. The more time he was here, the more he knew he would grow to hate the people around him. He was surprised that he doesn’t hate his two best friends at this point.

He splashed the water around with his hand. He wished he had the powers of Jaehyun, who could do virtually anything with water, even breathe in it. Perks of being a descendant of one of the top tier gods, or so they were considered at this camp.

It would seem common knowledge that for someone who is the son of a beautiful goddess, he would be more known, or people would be flocking him. No one seemed to really notice Jungwoo’s presence unless he made it known, which was rarely.

Sometimes, with that knowledge, he thought he could just slink away silently sometimes. Sure, his friends would notice, but if they said nothing, no one else would really notice. Jungwoo was quiet. Jungwoo held so much pent up rage for most people at this camp, and he wanted to run away from it bad. He would much rather spend a summer alone in his multi-million-dollar house all alone than be at this camp surrounded by people who he wished had a brain to mouth filter. Jungwoo wanted to leave. He hadn’t ever really tried to leave, but what was the harm in doing so?

He sighed and put his butt on the rocks, his knees getting tired of holding himself up. He should try to run away. No one but his friends would miss him. He would have time to himself. It would be him, the stars, the trees, and peace. The more he thought about it, the nicer it sounded. It was dangerous, he knew, but the thought was so comforting to him. Silence and solitude to him sounded nice.

After a while, he figured someone would notice his absence, so he pushed himself up and trekked back over to the fire, feeling the heat warming his skin with the closer he got. Ten turned around first, nodding at Jungwoo with a smile and offered up a seat for him. He sat down, looking around at the crowd. It was less than when he had left, which made him happy and a little less reluctant to stay. Ten was immersed in a conversation with another boy and Jaehyun was God knows where. Jungwoo looked around, seeing familiar faces and new faces, knowing that the more people that discover their true selves and enroll in the camp, the sooner the older members will have to give up a spot for them. Jungwoo wished it would be him next.

He noticed a group of people sitting on the steps to the rec hall, which was odd, as usually everyone that stays out is by the fire or heading to their cabins. Stragglers like this wouldn’t normally capture Jungwoo’s eye, but this group did for some reason, as the leader, is what he could only be called by his antics, was standing in the center, making grand movements for all around to see. He stood with his chest puffed out and his head held high, looked down on a boy, and it looked like they were about to fight. Jungwoo inched closer ever so slightly, kind of nervous but excited to see if a fight would break out.

The group’s leader shoved the boy back so hard that he fell backwards onto the ground, and Jungwoo could see the leader’s followers start laughing. There were only three of them, but they exuded such a force that made Jungwoo almost feel scared. Jungwoo watched as the leader crouched over the boy on the ground, said something to him and motioned with his arm that told the boy to scram, or else.

The boy scrambled to his feet and ran off while the group mocked him from a distance. Jungwoo half hid his body behind Ten, who was still in his own world with whoever he was talking to, and watched to see what they would do next. The leader bent down to the steps and retrieved what looked like a jacket, and slung it over his shoulder. He looked over to the bonfire, and instinctively Jungwoo hid further behind an oblivious Ten. For a second, his eyes glowed a blood red that could be seen by anyone who bothered to watch, and it clicked to Jungwoo.

Of course, one of the children of Hades would try and cause a scene on the first day back at camp. Hades’ children had no control and it was one of the very reasons why Jungwoo hated them so much. They just didn’t know when to stop. But even when this knowledge made its way into his mind, he couldn’t peel his eyes off of the leader, who was wearing all black, a muscle tee whose arm holes fell well below his ribcage, showcasing the skin of his torso and black jeans which Jungwoo saw much too unsuited for this weather.

This irked Jungwoo. This kid thought just because he was son of the god of the underworld he could come to the overworld and cause mayhem? Thought he was all high and mighty? This was a grave mistake to make here at Camp Half-Blood, soon enough everyone learns that they are nothing but a creation by the gods and have no place empowering themselves over each other. This kid especially had no place acting like he was above everyone else when his own father was, well, below everyone.

Jungwoo swallowed these thoughts and turned back to the bonfire. It was starting to die down now and people were retreating to their cabins, and Jungwoo was suddenly eager to do the same. He stood up and Ten followed suit, Jungwoo was surprised that he even remembered he was next to him, and followed him down the path to their cabin. They said nothing but enjoyed the silence on their way back. Jungwoo closed his eyes and let his feet guide him as he felt the breeze caress his face, not concerned that he could trip at any possible moment.

For now, he was glad to sleep this night away, but the looming thought of tomorrow always existed in his mind.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> proud of the ending of this one :3  
> don't keep expecting updates this fast. or maybe do, i thought of the perfect plot for this.  
> pls enjoy leave nice comments it really keeps me going

For some reason, it was far too dark for Jungwoo to process what was happening. In fact, it was pitch black, and no matter how hard he tried to adjust to his surroundings, all he saw was black. Next, he registered that his feet were moving. Stumbling over rocks and his shoulder occasionally brushed against a straggling branch and dig a little too harshly in his skin.

He found that he was not in control of his feet, either. Under the soles of his thin shoes, he felt the unmistakable texture of rocks and the sound of dirt crunching, leaves every now and then, but that was the only thing that filled his ear drums as his feet took him somewhere that he did not want to be. Jungwoo scrunched his eyes hard, desperate to open them, or summon back his sight, or something. None of this proved to be effective, and he merely sighed and continued walking, letting his legs take him far away.

Suddenly, he tripped. He gasped loudly and felt around with his hands now that he was on the ground. He felt hard rock, and dead pine needles. Small stones laid in between the cracks of the larger rock he was on top of and he dusted them off of his hands as he stood back up. In a flash, his vision returned, and all he saw what not a surprise based on what he was feeling underneath his body currently. He was on a woodsy path in the middle of nowhere, but it seemed his vision still betrayed him even when it returned as he could only see a few feet in front of him. Something in his brain switched on, and he stood back up quickly and started running.

Running from what was a mystery, Jungwoo didn’t know what he was running for but he felt like he needed to, daresay, it was an instinct. Something told him he needed to run, and that’s what he did.

For a good minute, the running was effective in soothing whatever urge was rippling throughout his body, but after that, his legs shut down, his body became a mass of nothing. Jungwoo exerted all of his energy in getting his legs to go faster, to stop being held down by whatever was slowing his efforts. He still couldn’t see, so whether it was something tied to his legs or just his body being tired, he fought it.

In a flash, his vision returned full force and his legs were not being restrained. He lunged forward suddenly, thanking the gods for returning his vision so he could act last minute and catch himself. He sat, panting hard, and surveyed his surroundings. This was not a forest he recognized. He had seen the exterior of the camp so many times that he would know what kind of trees enclosed it, what kind of rocks he was most likely to pick up on the long and boring hike to the stone archway. There was nothing familiar here, he was stranded.

When his breathing slowed, he stood up slowly, trying to decide a direction to start back up in. He turned his head around, seeing nothing but more trees and rocks, but his eyes caught on something that was not a product of nature, but rather put there by man.

It was a black mass, slightly moving but there was no wind around him to disturb it. Jungwoo cocked his head slightly, watching it carefully. By themselves again, his feet inched closer to the mass despite Jungwoo’s silent protests and his desperate efforts to move in the other direction.

He continuously tried to make his feet walk backwards, turn his head around, fall over, something to stop him from moving closer to whatever this was, but it was to no avail. There were no signs that this thing even moved, but a looming thought told Jungwoo that it was dangerous. His body moved ahead of his mind.

When he got to a point where there was close to ten feet between them, Jungwoo silently called, “Hello?” except he didn’t, because he couldn’t use his voice. When he tried to speak again with the same word, it was raspy, like his voice had been stolen from him, like he had never been able to speak in the first place.

The mass started to move like it could hear Jungwoo despite no sound coming out, it shifted so a head seemed to arise from the top, and then structures like shoulders. ‘Person’ was the only thing that came to Jungwoo’s mind in this moment, his feet still glued to the ground, not responding to his brain’s efforts to move. He simply stood there, watching a body emerge.

It turned around suddenly and faced Jungwoo. It seemed to work the rest of its misshapen body to head towards Jungwoo, and even when the threat of this thing was clearly real and in his face, his was frozen. He could finally see its face, and it was familiar but not familiar enough, he’s seen this face before. He’s seen this face that blended in with the black cloud, eyes red like fire. It glared at Jungwoo, the red in the irises deepening with every second.

It opened its mouth, and Jungwoo could only stand and watch. “Are you brave enough, pretty boy?” Demonic. Now, Jungwoo could turn, and he ran.

He made it three steps before he felt a blaze of heat scrape the back of his neck and through his scalp, screaming at the burn all over his skin. He felt a pair of hands grasp his shoulders to hold him in place, snake around his throat, close in on his face, and kept burning. Jungwoo took one gasp of air, and felt nothing but the hot ash in his lungs.

He took another gasp of air and felt nothing but the cool cotton of the sheets underneath him. His eyes shot open and he assessed the scene while breathing frantically. There was no forest. There was no strange body morphing into some kind of devilish form, just him and the sheets. And the people next to him in their own separate beds, but they didn’t seem to take notice of Jungwoo’s frightened state. He turned over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. The room was pitch black save for some yellow light leaking in the curtains thanks to the lanterns outside.

It took a while for his breathing to slow, and all the while he was waiting he refused to think about what he had just dreamed. He had never had a dream like that in all the time he had been at Camp Half-Blood, and some at the camp say if you dream of demise of some sort (which Jungwoo would absolutely say that dream was about demise), it’s a bad omen for the demigod dreamer. Of course, though, why would danger come to Jungwoo in the first place? He’s been alive for 20 years, why start now?

He pushed his long hair off his forehead, he was very hot. This only just registered to him, and he whipped off the covers and sat upright, taking another deep breath when the cold air rushed to his feet and legs. He looked behind him to the other two. Still as a log, breathing paced, probably not overheating. Jungwoo stood and walked out of the room, intending to get fresh air.

The back door had been revealed, the curtains were not pulled shut by whoever was last in the house. Most likely Jaehyun, as that kid stays out all the time and goes right to bed, he would forget to take his clothes off if he was tired enough. It was very dark, but Jungwoo could still see the gracefulness of the lake and the reflection of the white spots in the sky. He slid open the door and stepped out to the small, rail-less balcony.

Being so close to the water and shoreline, Jungwoo liked how there was no barrier between him and the earth, and he could step right down if he wanted to. Usually, he enjoyed going to the edge of the dock and looking at the night sky. Tonight, however, he simply at on the wood and listened to nature.

The wind gently rustled his hair, and he closed his eyes at the soothing feeling.

It was times like this where thoughts of escaping plagued his mind more than ever. It was the dead of night, the only sounds were made by nature and no one was up to catch him slipping away, he could do it so quietly. He often times thought that Ten and Jaehyun would even miss him. Jungwoo knows that all he does is dampen their mood, they carry on so easily with conversation that didn’t involve him. He knew he was difficult. He would very much like to not be that way but it was simply in his blood. He couldn’t not be a douche about most things, as awful as that sounds.

To his left, he heard a crunch and his eyes snapped open immediately. He whipped his head in the direction of the noise, having awful flashbacks to the nightmare he was just attacked by. It sounded like a firm step on stones, like someone was lurking and took too heavy of a step. It only alarmed Jungwoo more when he heard the sound again, but softer this time, and saw nothing. He stared hard, but saw no movement. His heart started to race again.

He stared at the side of his cabin, seeing nothing, but expecting everything. After another second, there was still nothing, but like a stalker in the night, literally, there was movement. To Jungwoo’s horror, he saw a slender hand and fingers snake around the wall of his own cabin, clearly an intent to get his attention. Jungwoo gasped hard and wasted no time in standing up and dashing back inside, shutting the door, locking it, and grasping the curtains so they closed.

He quickly shuffled back to the room and flew onto his bed, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible. He felt safe for a second, but to his horror, he heard one solid quick rasp on the window right above him. He stiffened. Jungwoo gave one glance to the two sleeping beside him in separate beds, ready to wake them up if there was a demon at the window.

With one harsh inhale, he ripped the curtain open and saw… nothing. There was nothing at his window. He craned his neck to see as far left as he could but there was nothing. There was no one. Swallowing roughly, he shut the curtains as fast as possible and laid back down. Was he crazy? Was there actually no hand on the side of the cabin and he was just imagining it? No way, that hand was so real. And that noise too, he definitely heard that.

After another few minutes of running through possible outcomes of this, he chalked it up to being overly tired, and willed himself to sleep with a pillow over his head, blocking out any kind of noises, or even feelings of being watched.

The next morning was just as sunny as the last, but Jungwoo was very reluctant to get up. The sheets felt more comforting than they ever had, now that they held the promise of not having to get up and see people he never wanted to see in the first place. He heard his two friends rummaging around the cabin to get dressed and meet everyone for the first breakfast of the summer season, and it only made Jungwoo want to become more of a hermit.

He knew, of course, his friends would never let that happen.

“Jungwoo, you can’t hide forever.” He heard Jaehyun’s voice coming from across their room, in a sad attempt to rile up the slumbering boy.

“Yes, I can.” Jungwoo mumbles from under his pillow.

“No, you can’t. It’s going to be a good day. You’ll get up and you’ll socialize and it will all go by fast and then you can come back here.” Jaehyun was still running around doing something that Jungwoo didn’t bother to find out about.

“And then I only have to get up again the next day.” Jungwoo protested, but despite his words he removed the pillow from his head and sat upright.

“Oh, be a big boy now. You’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

With much grumbling and protesting from Jungwoo later, the two headed out of the cabin, which it was only then that Jungwoo realized Ten was not with them, he supposed he must have left earlier, or was still sleeping and Jaehyun was only bothering Jungwoo just for the hell of it.

That thought was shut down when he saw his shorter friend sitting at a table in the rec hall with a group he recognized but wasn’t friendly with, but Jaehyun being Jaehyun, he walked right up to Ten and said boy moved over to make a spot for both Jungwoo and Jaehyun. Jungwoo was significantly uncomfortable, but made the usual effort to seem engaged.

Across from him, a boy with a round face and auburn hair, multiple earrings and Jungwoo thought he could see eyeliner. He didn’t know his name, he didn’t want to ask either. The boy to the left of this boy was a little cheerier, he had a slender face and his muscle tee showed off decent sized biceps for someone with his skinny build. He talked loudly to Jaehyun but Jungwoo didn’t mind, it wasn’t as annoying as he would have expected it to be.

With the talking that was coming from this boy and his friends, Jungwoo pieced together that his name was Mark. Mark would nudge the boy to his right often when he wanted him to laugh at his jokes, and sometimes he would laugh and butt into the conversation, and sometimes he stayed silent. Jungwoo wondered if he had any skeletons in the closet like he himself did.

On the other side of Mark was a boy with slightly longer hair than the first two. He smiled often, and Jungwoo could see a couple off-set teeth but it didn’t diminish his overall cuteish look. When he spoke, his tone was lilted a bit and he held an accent on some words, making Jungwoo think that he was still adapting to the language they were all conversing in. No one said his name, and it seemed like they only listened to him for a minute before the attention directed back at Mark, or one of his own friends.

Then, finally, there was one other boy on the side of Ten that Jaehyun wasn’t sitting on. Jungwoo couldn’t see him very well due to his position, but he heard his voice. When he heard it, he was speaking to the boy on the right of Mark or he was speaking to Ten. His attention never directed to Mark or the other boy, but it gave Jungwoo suspicions that they didn’t get along well. He couldn’t be sure though. That’s how Jungwoo was with some people in his hometown.

“Are you going to eat?” Jaehyun nudged Jungwoo out of his trance, and he looked up as Jaehyun stood. He shook his head, he wasn’t in the mood for food at the moment. A few of the boys he was sitting with looked at him for a split second, then back down, but the boy right across from him didn’t falter his glance.

“I don’t think we’ve met. I saw you during the welcoming bonfire, you were sitting next to us, but we didn’t talk. I’m Donghyuck.” The boy across from him finally had a name to match the face. It suddenly clicked to Jungwoo, this was the group who had some jokes that he found funny, and he figured that despite the separation between half of them at this table, they were probably all very close. Jungwoo cracked a smile that was almost fully genuine.

“Jungwoo. I do remember you all at the fire, actually.” He sat up straight, feeling the friendly façade, horrifyingly, slide off of his face. Maybe these four will be people he wouldn’t have to pretend around.

“I didn’t see you.” Mark tilted his head. He was nudged by Donghyuck.

“Jesus,” Donghyuck sighed. “He’s thick and doesn’t know how to properly introduce himself before saying some dumb shit, so this is Mark, that’s Renjun, and that’s Jaemin. Renjun and Jaemin are off the walls, don’t count on them to be in a certain place at a certain time even if they promise they’ll be there. You know what, just don’t talk to them.” Donghyuck instructed to Jungwoo as if the two weren’t right there, and verbally opposing his words. “Be quiet you two.”

“Don’t act like you tried to flake on us this year by pretending you were moving across the country so you could avoid camp.” Jaemin threw at him.

“Oh, shut up, you conniving gay.” Donghyuck pointed at him with his fork.

Jaemin laughed curtly. “Conniving? No, gay?” He took a deep inhale. “You got me there.”

Jungwoo laughed at the banter. He paid close attention to what Jaemin said to Donghyuck about escaping the camp. Jungwoo identified with that feeling all too much. He figured he would bring it up with him later, talking to someone with the same mindset could probably ease his slightly concerning want to disappear.

It was an interesting topic to bring up, as the thought of Jungwoo’s own sexuality never bothered him, but he found nothing wrong with liking who he liked. He never put more thought into it other than ‘I like who I like, and that’s my business’. He went by no label and when people asked, ‘Are you gay?’ he’d jab back with the classic ‘No, I’m Jungwoo’. And that would be that. It was nice to be around people who were so open, though.

Jaehyun took a seat next to Jungwoo with a full plate of pancakes and fruit, and when he was turned to Ten and Jaehyun, he snuck his hand across and stole a blueberry. Donghyuck saw this and chuckled lowly. Jungwoo put a finger to his lips, and the younger boy mimed a zipper on his mouth.

After a few minutes, Jungwoo wasn’t feeling as apprehensive about this as he had been a while ago. This small friend group was comfortable with each other, and made the three of them feel very welcome, even if seven boys at one table seemed a bit loud and intrusive for Jungwoo, it was a nice break from the stingy, stuck up demigods he finds all too often. He actually forgot where they were for a minute, and forgot all these boys had some kind of god decent in them. While he was curious about their heritage, he didn’t bother to ask. The thought of it ruined his mood a little bit.

Jungwoo was never one of the types of people to see someone’s godliness in them. Jungwoo knew of some people who could spend five minutes with someone and know exactly who their parent was, and sometimes it was spot on. Jungwoo could never do that, simply because he doesn’t care enough about that side of him. He had a feeling that Donghyuck didn’t quite care either.

He pushed all these thoughts aside and focused on whatever the boys were talking about, even if the topic of battling each other and the promise of a fight during capture the flag was boring as fuck, he still listened.

Jungwoo was admittedly starting to drift, and he only realized when Mark cut himself off to nudge Donghyuck. “Look who just walked in.”

Donghyuck reluctantly lifted his head and groaned when he caught sight of the person in subject. Jungwoo discreetly turned his head to look in the direction that Mark had pointed to, noticing a boy around their height with longish dark hair falling over his eyes. He was wearing all black from head to toe, and even in this weather, that was a little extreme. His black tee was a tight fit, showing off his thin figure. He had on black cargo shorts, a pair of black boots with a chain hanging down from the zipper. Jungwoo did not know who this boy was, but he assumed he had some kind of relationship with Donghyuck as the boy was avoiding eye contact, trying to duck and hide behind Jungwoo.

That boy wasn’t alone, however, as three other boys walked in behind him. One of them he recognized as Johnny, to which he looked over at Ten, but the boy wasn’t watching the clique walk in. The third one he had never seen before. He had unique features and his black hair was gelled up on top of his head nicely, and unlike the other two, he had a white shirt on top of long black pants. His eyes were small, and when they roamed over the rec hall and landed on Jungwoo for a second, he felt almost intimidated. It was the last person that walked in that made Jungwoo shrink into himself.

The build, the stance, the walk, the eyes. He remembered this kid from last night at the bonfire. He was the last one to walk in but it seemed like the three obeyed what he said like he was the head of the group. He held his head so high and his walk attracted the attention of boys and girls all around him. Jungwoo knew he didn’t want to stare but he was in a trance.

The group sat down at a table a few rows away from them, and even though Jungwoo was fully aware that he looked odd twisted around in his seat to stare, eh couldn’t look away.

The leader slowly lifted his head and to Jungwoo’s horror, he made direct eye contact with Jungwoo. His eyes were bright red and bore into Jungwoo’s soul. He felt his body stiffen up, he felt himself become foggy—

His shoulder was grabbed and shoved by Donghyuck who leaned across the table simply to do that. Jungwoo stared, asking for an explanation.

“What are you doing?” Donghyuck asked.

“Nothing.” Jungwoo said weakly, he didn’t even have the energy to reply anymore.

“Don’t stare at them. It’s going to attract attention to us and that’s the last thing I want.” Donghyuck kept his head ducked down. Jungwoo kept his eyes on Donghyuck instead of the mysterious crowd behind him.

“Why?” Jungwoo asked.

Donghyuck sighed. “It’s just Jeno. Don’t worry about it. Block me.” Donghyuck made sure he was always out of the prying eyes of the boy named Jeno, blocked by either Jungwoo or Jaehyun next to him.

Mark laughed next to him. “You act like he has some kind of superiority around you.”

“He does, Mark! He’s friends with Hades’ kid, and he can fuck me up if Jeno says so. I can’t talk to him at all because I’m sure if I say something Jeno doesn’t like, he can get the hell boy to do some mind trickery on me.”

“What did Jeno do, exactly?” Jungwoo questioned, curious.

Donghyuck sighed again. “I don’t know, I think he likes me or something. If he does he is very good at hiding it, or maybe he doesn’t like me that much, or doesn’t even like me anymore because he doesn’t look my way ever unless we are alone and it’s so annoying.”

“Is that why you’re hanging out with us more often?” Renjun piped in. “I thought you just wanted to hang out.” He looked sad, but the way Donghyuck rolled his eyes, Jungwoo figured it was a faux look.

“Yes, I don’t want him to come near me. He’s the son of Nike and anyone that I’ve ever met that is descent of Nike is bad news, and a dickhead. I’m all set.”

“If he only approaches you when you’re alone, why are you hiding now?” Jaehyun spoke up.

“You never know what he will do next. He’s in a friend group with a kid who can control people’s minds.”

“Children of Hades’ can’t control minds.” Ten pointed out.

Donghyuck shook his head exasperatedly. “Yes, they can!”

“No,” Jaemin got his attention. “Only a very, very small percentage of Hades’ children can do that. It’s a very rare trait, and even if they do harness the ability of mind reading, they can only produce images inside someone’s brain to make them see something, not act a certain way.”

Donghyuck grumbled and looked back down to his plate, still ducking from view. Jungwoo sat there for another moment in silence, his eyes felt heavy even though it’s only been thirty minutes since he woke up, he already wanted to go back to sleep.

This group proved to be very entertaining to hang out with, and Jungwoo might have to extend his friend group from two people to four more people. He wasn’t complaining about that, it was nice to be able to socialize a bit more than he was used to with people he could talk to so easily and forget about why they actually were where they were.

Jungwoo couldn’t figure out what anyone’s lineage was, he only managed to find out Renjun’s after Donghyuck made fun of him for being a soft bitch and that’s what he gets for being the son of Adonis. Jungwoo hadn’t met many people who were sons or daughters of Adonis (and yes, he would know because here at Camp Half-Blood, everyone loves to introduce themselves by saying ‘HI, I’m whoever, the son or daughter of whoever. It quickly, quickly got under Jungwoo’s skin), but it was nice to meet one who was very friendly.

He thought it was better like this. If the group stayed friends like normal, mortals in the overworld instead of demigods training their life away for some unnecessary reason that Jungwoo always fails to understand. He preferred a friend group that didn’t bring up the supernatural side of their lives. None of these people did. He relaxed, knowing that at least one person at the table shares his feelings, and he suddenly didn’t feel so alone.

Another half hour went by and the breakfast hour was over, the sun was out and it meant that everyone was to head to the fields, and Jungwoo knew what was coming next. It was time to start practicing for their first capture the flag game that took place in a week from now. They were all told by camp instructors that they needed to practice as much as possible to see whose team can take the gold. Of course, the prize wasn’t tangible, it was most likely just bragging rights and the reminder that they can defend themselves against monsters under their beds.

Jungwoo stayed sitting, but Jaehyun hit his shoulder with his hand.

“Let’s go, we need to get practicing big boy!” Jaehyun jogged out and didn’t bother to wait for Jungwoo. Jungwoo sighed and looked back straight and saw Donghyuck was still sitting there. Staring at him, in fact.

“You’re like an open book Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo scrunched his eyebrows. “How so?”

“Maybe it’s because you have the comfort of your friends, but it’s obvious you’d rather be anywhere but here.” Jungwoo stared at Donghyuck. “Don’t worry. I’m not judging. I feel the same.”

Jungwoo shook his head. “My feelings are very complicated. About this place. About myself.”

Donghyuck nodded. “I get that. I had a lot of conflicted thoughts, too. I thought there was no point in coming back and learning how to defend myself against hell raised mongrels when the real mongrels are overworld teenage boys who feel threatened when a queer boy looks in their direction.”

It fell into place for Jungwoo. Donghyuck thought it was a waste of time for him to be wielding swords in the name of his father (or mother) when his threat laid in the hands of some stupid bullies. Jungwoo never had to deal with anything like that, but he felt bad for Donghyuck. Jungwoo gave him a chance to speak, and he learned that he was funny, cautious, smart, but held his head high. Jungwoo gave him many kudos for that skill.

“I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that treatment.” Donghyuck held eye contact.

“Thank you. It gets better every year. I guess with the little physical exertion I put myself through when I’m here adds to how much I get a tiny bit bigger every returning school year.” He cocked a smile, and Jungwoo retuned it.

“I don’t know why I hate it here so much. I don’t know why I hate demigods so much. I wish they weren’t so… like how they are. You know?”

Donghyuck laughed genuinely. “Yeah, I know. Don’t know when to stop bragging about how powerful mommy or daddy was and uses it to their advantage until they get stuck in a situation that they can’t do that anymore.”

“Exactly!” Jungwoo proclaimed.

“I don’t know when some of them will learn that mommy and daddy aren’t here to protect them anymore. The Gods are cowards. Come down here to procreate then leave their children with one parent and expect them to hold up to their legacy and protect their name. It’s fucking dumb. I always hated that. I always hated how demigods act like they owe their parents something. They don’t. So, so dumb.”

“You explained it. Perfectly, actually. They think they’re all that.”

“They’re not.” Donghyuck shook his head, eyes locked on Jungwoo. “They’re just another fucking mortal with golden blood in their veins. Nothing special.” He sighed and stood finally, summing Jungwoo to follow with a motion of his hands. “And, don’t mean to alarm you, but that kid has been staring at you for a while now. I told you, there’s something fucking wrong with Hades’ sons of bitches.”

Jungwoo slowly turned his head to see the leader boy, his blond hair pushed off of his forehead, not hiding the fact that he was blatantly staring. Instead of his red eyes, this time it was like a void, and even though Jungwoo quickly looked away, he could swear even the whites of his eyes were not visible underneath the viscous cloud of blackness in his eyes.


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> super proud of this 9k word chapter. hope you guys like it. more updates coming soon.

Jungwoo walked slowly, dragging his feet with every step. If he weren’t alone like he was at the moment, he would have picked up his pace and acted like he was eager to see the newbies and the vets do a practice round of fighting with weapons. Now, however, he took his time, wasting as much of it as possible so he could be there for the least amount of it.

The thing with the camp was, everyone was required to at least practice with the swords and knives (Jungwoo preferred knives because they were light, discreet, and he felt badass), but Jungwoo tried to weasel his way out of 90% of it when he could. He would fake being sick, he would fake an injury, he would just hide. When it came to having to fight someone, Jungwoo definitely took the safer way out, and skipped it all together. He couldn’t today, there was no good reason why he couldn’t miss it, he was just being dragged by Donghyuck who said he likes to watch Mark get his ass beat.

They took a seat by the edge where there were multiple pairs of sword wielders out and at it, only a few were sitting, but most of them were panting hard and out of breath.

“It’s fun watching people make fools of themselves.” Jungwoo laughed. “That kid right there,” Donghyuck pointed to a tall, skinny kid who looked much too clumsy to be doing something this intense. “Doesn’t even know how to hold a pencil, never mind a sword. He cuts himself with it more than he does his opponent, it’s honestly kind of funny.”

They sat and watched, and indeed it was true. The kid had kept dropping his weapon and his opponent always had the upper hand. It was a wonder to Jungwoo how Donghyuck managed to find so much that it seemed he himself had been missing, the more he sat here and watched people battle, the more he noticed that not everyone was very good at what they were doing. It was almost embarrassing, and it pushed Jungwoo one step further in the direction away from the camp.

He kept looking around of the field and he noticed Jaehyun and Ten battling it out, clashing swords loudly and looking like true Olympians, Jungwoo was almost jealous. Ten had put on a sleeveless shirt and had sweat glistening on his forehead and most of his exposed skin. Jaehyun was matching, but exerting a lot less energy as he was bigger and slightly stronger than Ten, easily putting up a fight and making Ten work to win.

Jungwoo found no appeal in this, he didn’t want to fight anyone, he didn’t want to be center of attention, all sweaty and gross and the sun in his eyes, only to lose the fight and look bad. Jungwoo found this pointless. They were fighting to make themselves look bigger, not to help anyone. He found it hard to believe that some demigods take this seriously.

“I used to do this with everyone but gave up when I just accepted that I was too weak to partake in this bull.” Donghyuck mumbled next to him.

Jungwoo looked over. Donghyuck was still intently watching the candidates. “Were you a sword fighter? Or did you participate by following closely behind the person with the weapons.” Donghyuck barked a laugh at this.

“Definitely the latter.”

As they were watching the practice slowly shut down with everyone getting tired, a camp counselor rounded a pair still facing off and got everyone’s attention with one loud blow of the whistle.

“Anyone want to demonstrate their skills and show the opposing team what’s up?” There was a roar of cheering, and both Jungwoo and Donghyuck grimaced. Both of them watched as a red-haired boy was pushed by his friends, and Jungwoo recognized him as Taeyong. He mentally snarled at him, while Donghyuck snickered.

“Better get comfy for this one.” Taeyong was laughing, like he had told his friends to push him out into the center. He had a dirty beige shirt on, and red body paint in a band around his left bicep. He stretched his arms out as if to challenge anyone to face off with him, like he would pummel them to the ground instantly. Jungwoo heard some girls giggling behind him and he wanted to vomit, but the look of raw anticipation on Donghyuck’s face made Jungwoo stay.

“Why do you look like you’re about to explode with excitement?” Jungwoo commented.

“I hate that kid. Taeyong, he’s such an asshole. Especially for being son of Dionysus, you would think he would have a little more class. I want to see him get his ass beat, he needs it. Someone better fucking do it, or I will.” He cleared his throat. “One day.”

Jungwoo turned back to the field, and waited to see who the lucky contender would be. Suddenly, the talking hushed down as none other than the son of Hades stepped up the middle of the field, and the smug look was wiped off of Taeyong’s face. Jungwoo didn’t know if it was because he felt threatened, or he knew he could take him down. The size difference told Jungwoo it was the former, however.

It was a little frustrating how Jungwoo did not know his name, having to resort to calling him ‘son of Hades’, but that’s the best he had at the moment. He didn’t seem to want to say his name either, but Jungwoo figured Taeyong already knew it by the way he looked him up and down and then scoffed. He stepped close to him as if to appear bigger, but failed as he was shorter, and it seemed he noticed this, so he took a step back again. Donghyuck laughed.

“A friendly battle, contenders, let’s start the match.”

Hades’ son held his sword at arm’s length and Taeyong did the same, both of them staring at each other with the blades of their swords touching, and the sound of metal harshly filled the air as they slid off of each other and started dueling.

It was no doubt that Taeyong was skilled in the area, but it goes to show that being too cocky was never a good thing as Hades’ son was delivering more and more blows to him that would catch him off guard, making him fall backwards, or making him rethink moves he was sure would work.

He looked fierce as he battled. Like he had a purpose and he was working towards it. Like he had a reason to want to beat Taeyong.

His skin soon became slick with a thin sheet of sweat as he skillfully mastered the sword and kept Taeyong backing up until he couldn’t anymore, and he fell backwards, shocked. Instead of returning back to his friend group or accepting the applause from the audience, he pointed the sword at Taeyong’s face, and in his panting state, he held a killer eye contact, and Jungwoo could swear his eyes were red again, even though they weren’t at the beginning of the match.

He pulled his sword away when the whistle blew again but he kept his eye contact for a second more, then turned around and left. Everyone was left staring at him, and it seemed like no one could put a name to the face. All around him, Jungwoo heard questions being thrown of who is that, and what is his name?

Jungwoo turned to Donghyuck who looked like he was going to overdone on excitement.

“Finally! God, finally! He deserved it so much. That Hades’ kid is still weird though, but I’m glad he beat him. He deserved it.”

“Does no one know who that is?” Jungwoo interrupted.

Donghyuck shrugged and turned his head to face Jungwoo. “I think this is his first year here, but it seemed like Taeyong already knew him. Maybe he’s one of those demigods that comes during the fall and spring, too.”

“How does he have a friend group then? And why can’t anyone figure out his name?”

Donghyuck shrugged again. “Jeno, Johnny, and the other boy, Sicheng, were friends last year, but I don’t know if you remember them. They kind of kept to themselves, but this year it was all about the come-up when this kid came in and took their designated spot as a leader.” He scoffed. “A leader they don’t need, that’s for sure.”

Jungwoo didn’t say anything, but instead just watched as the mystery boy walked away with his friends, and wished he could have peeled his eyes away when he ripped his shirt off to use as a towel to dry the sweat on his arms.

Jungwoo managed to come clean of having to physically exert himself on the first day of training, as the day was mostly used up by more newbies who didn’t know anything about fighting, or who they were at all. The sun was almost starting to set and dinner was in another hour, this left Jungwoo with nothing else to do except sit here, talk to Donghyuck, or if he dared, even get up and practice. That last option was a strict no as of right now, so he sat and waited.

“I’ve never been good at throwing knives.” Donghyuck spoke up.

“I’m okay at it, I hit the target six times out of ten instead of four.” Donghyuck laughed, and to Jungwoo’s horror, he stood up and walked over to the practice dueling knives set up on a podium. Jungwoo looked around, people were leaving the field and sparing Donghyuck no glances. Said boy ripped a few knives off of the wall, spinning them in his hands. He motioned Jungwoo over.

He dusted himself off and stalked over to where Donghyuck was. “I want to see how good I am. I never usually practice with people here, but maybe with you next to me I won’t look so lonely.” Donghyuck stepped back, aimed at the target with the knife and threw it. It pathetically fell three feet short of the target.

“Okay, I’m not good at all. That’s great to know.”

Jungwoo laughed. “Your stance is wrong. Put this foot out,” Jungwoo tapped one of Donghyuck’s thighs. “Wind up like you’re throwing a baseball. Also, hold the knife like this.” He rotated the knife in his grip. “Now throw it.”

This time, it still didn’t hit the target, but it hit the post behind the target, which was better than hitting nothing at all.

“Shit. You’re good.”

“No, you’re good. I just told you how to stand.” Donghyuck laughed and dropped the knives on the group, backing off the field, to which Jungwoo followed.

The breeze felt nice as Jungwoo and Donghyuck walked to the rec hall, talking about anything and nothing at the same time. Jungwoo thought it was strange how he felt comfortable next to Donghyuck as if he has known him forever, it was like the mere day they had been talking was actually a year, and Jungwoo wasn’t sure if he should be cautious about it or not.

He thought not as Donghyuck had vocalized his shared disinterest in the camp, and even let it slip once or twice that he wished he could disappear, but Donghyuck was not like Jungwoo. Donghyuck had a group of friends and he could be himself and not have to hide when he came face to face with someone else. Jungwoo did, although he really didn’t have to. He simply chose to. Jungwoo could act like an asshole all he wanted, but he couldn’t place his finger on exactly why he chose to hide it all. Deep down, though, he figured it was all for the attention. Jungwoo had always had a thing for the spotlight. Even though it diminished over the years, he found himself unconsciously weaseling his way into the center. It made him feel guilty for a while, but he just accepted that he liked being the center of it all.

The both of them walked into the rec hall and collected food before taking a seat with the group they had sat with that morning. Jungwoo found himself adequately distracted through dinner, not thinking about anything that could have sent him into a crisis at any time, luckily.

The night had passed by with a breeze, although admittedly, Jungwoo did have a bit of difficulty falling asleep as the memories of the night before came back to him. He resisted the urge to sit outside and enjoy the cool air, and just stayed inside, chatting the night away with Jaehyun and Ten, but mostly Ten as Jaehyun was asleep within twenty minutes.

For the most part, the week passed by like the first day did. Their routine was boringly alike every day, and by Thursday, Jungwoo was falling asleep in his spot under the tree. Donghyuck was absent from his company today due to actually practicing with Mark and Jaemin, and Jungwoo didn’t ask where Renjun was, but he wasn’t there with them. Jungwoo laid his head back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes, enjoying the shade over him when he heard footsteps come up to him and stop way too close for his liking. He cracked his eye open. It was Jaehyun.

“You haven’t practiced all week. Come practice with me.” Jaehyun pointed the hilt end of a sword at Jungwoo, who just stared.

Jungwoo made sure his voice was low before speaking. “I would die before I was caught alive with you and a sword in my hand.” Jaehyun sighed.

“You need to show them you have usefulness here or they will let you go next summer. And you want to stay, right?” Jaehyun purposefully brought his voice louder at the end, knowing people would hear if they were nearby. And just Jungwoo’s luck, they were.

“Why do you do this to me?” Jungwoo grumbled as he stood up.

Jaehyun laughed. “You know you love me.”

“You wish.” Jungwoo didn’t take the sword from Jaehyun but got up, dusted himself off and followed him down the field towards an emptier spot under a tangle of branches and shade from leaves. Jaehyun still held the sword out.

“I’m not using a sword.” Jungwoo protested.

“Come on!” Jaehyun whined. “You don’t know how good with a sword you are until you use one and you can’t get better until you practice first. No one is going to judge you. You’ll be fine.” Jaehyun thrusted the sword towards Jungwoo but he still didn’t take it.

“I’d rather use knives.”

“Don’t bring a knife to a sword fight, you know the phrase.”

“What? No, first of all the phrase is ‘don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, and second swords are so long and I could hurt myself in the process. I’m just going to get knives.” Jungwoo went to turn but Jaehyun stopped him by quickly maneuvering to the other side of him and blocking his path with the sharp metal.

“Use the sword, Jungwoo.” Jungwoo sighed. “Use the sword.” He spoke slowly, knowing he was annoying the younger boy but made no move to stop, he even cracked a smile.

“It's not the medieval ages, I’m not using the sword.” Jungwoo stood his ground.

“Oh,” Jaehyun dramatically faked heart ache and placed his hand over his heart. “The Gods look down upon you, weakling.” He pretended to cry.

“You know I don’t believe that crap, Jae.”

Jaehyun fixed his composure quickly. “Use the goddamn sword and no one gets hurt.”

“Technically, someone will be getting hurt.”

“Jungwoo!” Jaehyun forced Jungwoo’s hand open and put the hilt inside. “Let’s go.”

Jungwoo sighed, defeated. Jaehyun did a fancy spin with the sword before taking stance a few feet away from him. Jungwoo didn’t know the proper stance for sword fighting, so he tried to copy Jaehyun’s as best he could before the other boy striked. Jungwoo managed to block the strike by the skin of his teeth as it came much too close to his face for comfort. Jaehyun smiled as he saw Jungwoo’s frightened look before he pulled the sword back to himself and struck again on the other side, to which Jungwoo blocked again. The sound of metal hitting metal made Jungwoo cringe, but he tightened his grip and tried to have a go at Jaehyun.

He swung his sword down and around the top of the older boy, but he blocked that with quick grace, and he tried one more time from the left side, but Jaehyun sidestepped that easily and performed an intricate dance that knocked the blade right out of Jungwoo’s hands, and there he stood, defenseless. He glared at Jaehyun.

“Don’t be a sore loser. That was only your first go at it. I've been doing this for years, I know what to look for in an opponent.” Jaehyun lifted his chin for the sole reason to piss Jungwoo off. Jungwoo grumbled at him and bent to pick up the sword again.

“Let’s go again. You deserve to have your ass whooped.” Jungwoo took stance.

“I think I know what it is in you,” Jaehyun twirled the blade again. “You want everyone who's worked hard to perfect their craft to come tumbling down in a heap that leaves them with nothing.” Jaehyun didn’t mimic Jungwoo, instead the younger boy stood up straight.

“No.”

“Yes. The other day on the field, when the Hades boy and Taeyong fought, Donghyuck told me that you wished he got defeated. I know you’ve never spoken to Taeyong before and I know you just hate people that are good at what they do. You want to be just as good?” Jungwoo was silent. “Better?” He said nothing. Jaehyun laughed. “That’s the ticket. It just comes with good practice and determination, and you’re going to fall down on the way.”

“Okay, dad.” Jungwoo sighed but took stance again and Jaehyun did the same.

Jaehyun started right away this time. He took his sword and brought it down hard and Jungwoo reacted quickly. He swung the sword to his right and above his head to block the oncoming hit, and Jaehyun didn’t pause when he backed up to swing at him from the side, to which Jungwoo countered and the clash of metal rang out through the trees. After a few more hits that Jungwoo blocked all the same, he swung on Jaehyun, but said boy backed up. Jaehyun jabbed at him and Jungwoo jumped back, and then Jungwoo swung his sword all the way back in an attempt to get a large range hit on him, but the hilt flew out of his hand. He realized after a horrific second that his sword was now flying far behind him and his stomach dropped when he heard a yell and a hiss.

Jaehyun dropped his sword and ran over to the boy on the ground to which Jungwoo followed. He was clutching his side with both hands and looked to be in a lot of pain, and Jungwoo just felt guilt.

“No, no, no…” Jungwoo frantically whispered as he jogged over to the boy writhing on the ground. Jaehyun knelt over him and turned him over, Jungwoo felt nauseous when he saw blood pouring through the gaps in his fingers. It looked to be deep, and that only made guilt flood through Jungwoo’s veins.

Jaehyun tried to pry the boy’s hand away from the wound but he protested, knowing that if he let go he would only bleed out more.

“Shit,” Jaehyun swore. He turned to Jungwoo. “Go get someone, please.”

Jungwoo nodded. He turned to the boy on the ground. Horrifically, he realized that this was one of the boys who flocked with the Hades kid. “I’m so sorry, really, I didn't see you there, I didn't know it was going to fly at you, I’m sorry.” The kid, who Jungwoo thinks he remembers correctly as Sicheng, said nothing, and only stared at Jungwoo. He wasted no more time and ran across the field to a counselor who recruited two more, and they both left to where Jungwoo told them the two boys were located.

Jungwoo sat on a log by the barren bonfire, panting heavily and thinking too hard. The other day, Hades kid had stared right at him multiple times and he had even seen his eyes change color. If he got any hint that it was him who injured one of his friends, he was done for, for sure. There was no way Jungwoo could get out of this unscathed.

Another minute of frantic worrying went by before he remembered something they say every year. To his knowledge, all of the weapons at the camp were enchanted so no one could seriously hurt themselves. People could get scratched and cut, but nothing near as bad as what just happened to Sicheng on the field. Jungwoo instantly felt even more unsafe at this camp knowing he can injure someone like that. His heart rate only picked up more when he saw the counselors walking back to the main hall with Sicheng leaning on them and Jaehyun following close behind.

Jungwoo looked apprehensively at the dried blood covering Jaehyun’s hand and his stomach dropped. Jaehyun sat next to him.

“He’ll be fine. I held it for him, he was starting to pass out.” He inspected the blood on his hand. “I told him that you didn’t mean it, he said it was fine. He was sneaking around and should have spoken up. I had to apologize too, I should have seen him but I didn’t.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I wasn’t hanging on to the sword right.” Jungwoo sighed. “Aren’t the swords supposed to be, like, bewitched, or something? So that this can’t even happen?” Jaehyun shook his head.

“They don’t do it during the training days, but they might start because of this. They only do it on capture the flag game days because it can get very intense between the players, they don’t want anyone going out of their minds and stabbing someone to death.”

“That’s what I almost just did!” Jungwoo exclaimed.

Jaehyun put his clean hand on Jungwoo’s thigh. “First of all, you didn’t stab him. Second of all, it wasn’t on purpose, and some of these demigods get vicious with competition. It’s like a whole new person takes them over and they go crazy.”

Jungwoo stayed silent. He couldn’t calculate his feelings at the moment. He knew he felt guilt first and foremost, but the feeling lying just underneath that was so miniscule, it was hard to put a name to it. His chest felt tight when he remembered who it was, when he remembered what a certain one of his friends could do. 

I was so stupid, if only he had just kept turning down the invitation to fight Jaehyun. He was not going to blame Jaehyun in this scenario because nothing about it was his fault, he simply needed a partner and wanted Jungwoo to be more active, it’s not his fault. If anything, Jaehyun couldn’t be blamed at all, with his blood covered hand, he obviously knew how to help Sicheng and how to stop him from bleeding out, but all Jungwoo could do was panic and run to get help.

He remembered the way Sicheng glared at him when he apologized. Jaehyun said that Sicheng had told him that Jungwoo was forgiven, but the stare was icy, and Jungwoo had a hard time believing it to be so. If the Hades boy got a word of this, Jungwoo was sure he would be done for, and made a fool of during the capture the flag game. There was no way he could come out of this clean. He knew he would pay for his stupid accident.

“I can practically hear you thinking, Jungwoo.” Jaehyun said, pulling Jungwoo out of his self-deprecating trance.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, but there’s nothing wrong. I told you Sicheng said it was okay, it was an accident.”

“He stared at me like he wanted me dead.”

“It was shock maybe? Once you went away and he started to fade the anger subsided, I’m sure, and the exact words he said to me were ‘Tell him it’s fine. It was an accident.’ So clearly he isn’t holding any grudges.” Jaehyun stood up. “I’m going to go clean up then probably check to make sure he’s okay. Stay here, or don’t, I don’t care where you go, I would just advise you to not go sword fighting again.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Jungwoo mumbled.

“Good.” Jaehyun stalked away, and Jungwoo couldn’t peel his eyes off of the copper coating his hand. This probably interrupted Jaehyun’s last good day of practicing before tomorrow’s capture the flag game.

Even though Jungwoo barely did anything, and the one thing he did do was something he could have easily prevented, this was as much practice Jungwoo usually gets in before any match of capture the flag. He would spin some knives, miss some targets, then call it a day, and he would stay out of the way of battle during the game.

He knew of a good hiding spot that many people don’t come across during the games, and he usually ducks down under there so no one sees him and tried to initiate something, so he can stay unscathed and their team usually gets the win.

The camp plays about three games of capture the flag every summer term, one in the very beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end, and at the end is usually when Jungwoo tries his best to blend in with the surrounded rocks and trees because what Jaehyun said was very true, the campers get very vicious and sick with the competitiveness that runs in their blood. Jungwoo can’t speak for everyone, but he knows he has never felt that feeling of wanting to overcome everyone. He has never had the overwhelming urge to beat everyone and come out victorious, but he knows it’s what happens at the camp.

Even though Jungwoo spends his days being a sloth under the shade and doing one round of knife throwing every week, he is not exempt from participating in the game, so he is always on a team, and whether he takes part in battling or not, that is his call. Either way, he was going to have to do something tomorrow.

After a while he, too, stood up from where he sat and made his way towards the cabins, leaving a safe enough time gap between when Jaehyun left so he wouldn’t run into him on the way home. His body ached, but not physically, and he couldn’t bring himself to stay outside any longer, with the risk of running into people he doesn’t want to see. As he was walking the gravel path, he remembered a spot tucked neatly away at the very edge of the camp that rarely anyone knew about, and he decided he had enough time before dinner to head over there.

He picked up the pace, jogging now to the end of the cabins and into the trees, seeing the barely there path right away and started hiking on it. Once he was in the trees, it was an instant relief to be away from everyone and be surrounded by nothing but nature, to his left, he could see the lake start to peek out in between tree trunks and to his right, far in the distance, though even more trees, he could see the faint blue glow of the camp’s barrier from the mundane. He looked up as he walked, the trees towered above his head and there were birds dashing in and out of the leaves, their songs echoing in the empty space between them. Jungwoo smiled to himself, and kept walking.

He doesn’t remember how exactly he found this spot, he just knows that one day he did manage to find it and it became his thing. Even his two closest friends don’t know about this, but they never seem to ask where he disappears off to most of the time anyway. It took him two more minutes of quick walking and weaving through the tall trees to find it. It was a small patch of grass, lit up by sunlight that managed to make a perfect little hole in the canopy of the leaves, wildflowers blooming in various spots over the green patch. It was next to a tiny river bank that sent out water from the lake, tumbling down a few feet of rocks and further out into the forest past the barrier.

Jungwoo walked over to it and sat down, feeling the hot sun touch his skin. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and sighed, listening to nothing but the water, the birds, and the sound of the leaves being disturbed by the wind. A breeze brushed over his arms, sending his shirt waving in it slightly, but the cool was nice on him, and he couldn’t help but to fall back and lay down, staying there, drifting off.

It was times like these where Jungwoo did most of his thinking. Things like where he wanted to go, what he wanted to do with his life, the deeper meaning behind being a demigod. He questioned whether or not the gods were actually real, even though he was living proof, thinking of grand conspiracies like every human is a demigod, but those who don’t know they are yet haven’t found that thing to set them off. If it weren’t for the fact that Jungwoo was at this camp, and could pass through the barrier keeping out the usual, unpowerful human, he would doubt if he were anything significant either. He ponders often what power he must obtain seeing how he is Goddess decent, and not to sound selfish, but he wanted more than just a pretty face. To his knowledge, his mother, Aphrodite, had nothing special about her except her impeccable powers to swoon men left and right, but Jungwoo didn’t want that. He couldn’t hold the threat of having people fall in love with him over their heads.

It was a reason most people turned a blind eye to Jungwoo. It was a reason that no one was friends with Jungwoo, merely acquaintances who knew he was a nice guy. He knew he stood out to no one, and while that thought got under his skin, it didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would.

It was also the reason, the fact that he stood out to nobody, that he wanted to run away. He wanted to lead a better life than to be at this camp every summer, practicing for a danger that, truly, he doesn’t believe really exists. This camp hold children of Hades, so why would the God of the Underworld come up and cause chaos? And for no good reason? Jungwoo couldn’t wrap his head around it.

He often wondered where he would go if he were to suddenly leave. Would he hike back through the entrance of the camp, saying bye to everyone on his way? Or would he come back to this very spot and hide, then cross the barrier, further into the forest that he doesn’t know where it leads to. Or would he just refuse next year and stay at home, enjoying the time to himself? This was a question he never had the answer to, but always thought about. He wasn’t sure if he would ever get an answer, he wasn’t sure if he would ever muster up the courage to run away.

His mind suddenly came across what Jaehyun had said to him earlier on the field. Jungwoo didn’t have some kind of superiority complex, and he didn’t want to be above anyone. But what Jaehyun said… it hit him in a nerve somewhere that he couldn’t explain. It was true that Jungwoo had never spoken to Taeyong before, it was true that Jungwoo only views him from afar and never bothered to talk to him to see if that was what everything was about. Jungwoo didn’t like the air that he carried. He didn’t like the way he thought of himself so highly, the way that he looked out into the crowd, daring someone to challenge him, as if they would even live to tell the tale. Jungwoo didn’t like people that bragged about who they were, as if they made themselves that way. If it weren’t for their demigod discovery, and this camp, Jungwoo was sure he wouldn’t be anything. He would have nothing to brag about. Nobody here was anything more than the average person to Jungwoo. Like Donghyuck said, just a bunch of normal humans with golden blood in their veins.

Jungwoo decided now was a good time to turn back, as the patch of sunlight was no longer shining directly on him and the wind chill was starting to pick up. He stood up slowly, brushed the dirt off his back and made his way to the camp again, the feeling of relief he was surrounded in laying on the grass and in the flowers dissipate with every step.

It got slightly cooler by the time he made it back to camp, he could see people coming out of their cabins and making their way to the rec hall for dinner, he decided to change his clothes before following them, spotting his friends once he walked in.

There was an absence of Renjun, Jungwoo noticed, but he didn’t ask where he was, feeling like they weren’t close enough for him to ask the question. That thought was stupid, but Jungwoo didn’t want to pry. He sat down with them after grabbing his food and they talked, luckily not about the incident that happened today or where Jungwoo disappeared off to for an hour.

Mark and Donghyuck did most of the talking this time, chatting about something they saw happen on the field (not Sicheng’s injury) and couldn’t stop laughing about it, and it made Jungwoo catch the fever and start laughing as well. The quiet laughter bubbling in his chest died down slowly as he watched the infamous son of Hades walk in, and he made himself smaller by instinct so he wouldn’t stand out. There was no way he didn’t know what happened today. Sicheng was always with him. Of course he know. Sicheng got a very good look at Jungwoo when he apologized, there was no way he didn’t tell him.

The Hades boy looked around while walking forward and Jungwoo cast his eyes downward, not keen to catch his eye. His own plate had been cleared ten minutes ago while campers were still walking in to grab their own food, which Jungwoo figured is what he would do, but he didn’t. To his absolute horror, when he thought it was safe to look up, he saw the Hades boy standing right behind the person across from him, staring at Jungwoo with those blood red eyes.

 The table became quiet instantly.

“Are you Jungwoo?” He spoke. His voice was deep and silky, and his hair was a mess on his head but it didn’t seem like he cared much. Everyone at the table, except Jaehyun, looked at the two, as if wondering what business he had doing here, and what business he had with Jungwoo.

Jungwoo could only nod.

“I heard about what happened. You took down one of my members for capture the flag. Letting you know that’s not what I had planned.” His voice didn’t falter at all, but Jungwoo could feel something akin to anger rising in his chest.

“It was an accident.”

“Was it?” He fired right back.

“Yes?” Jungwoo scoffed. “I didn’t hurt him on purpose, it was seriously an accident.”

“Sicheng doesn’t take it as such.”

“I talked to Sicheng when I helped him.” Jaehyun jumped in to Jungwoo’s rescue. “He said he knows it was an accident and he isn’t mad at Jungwoo.”

“Sicheng doesn’t know what he’s saying.” He spoke to Jaehyun, but kept his eyes trained on Jungwoo. “Sicheng never wanted to participate anyway, but I needed him. You damaged one of my best teammates.”

“That’s what you’re concerned about? You’re concerned about losing capture the flag?” Jungwoo fired at him. He raised an eyebrow and stared menacingly at Jungwoo, but he didn’t back down. “Not the fact that your friend is hurt? You’re worried because you’re going to lose?”

“And you’re going to win?”

“There’s only two teams, I don’t see why you’re talking like this is your battle.”

“Shut up, I’m not talking to you.” He turned his eyes to the person who spoke—Donghyuck. Donghyuck quieted down, but glared at him the whole time. He turned his head back to Jungwoo. “So it was an accident.” Jungwoo nodded. He lifted his chin as if he didn’t believe it, but didn’t press on further. “Sure, then. I’ll see you in the game.” He walked away, out of the doors and no one said anything until he left the hall completely.

“What the fuck?” Mark said.

Jungwoo ruffled his hair with one hand and sighed. “I knew this was going to happen. Fuck.” He shook his head. “I accidentally hurt one of his friends today while practicing with Jaehyun.”

“How bad could you have hurt him that he can’t participate tomorrow?” Jaemin questioned.

“I flung my sword backwards and I wasn’t holding on tight enough and it went flying right into him. He was bleeding so badly.” Jungwoo paused. “Jaehyun helped him while I found some counselors, but when he came back his hand was covered in his blood and it looked like his friend was on the verge of passing out.”

“Shit…”

“He’s just trying to scare you, Jungwoo.” Ten reassured him. “He can’t do anything to you. The weapons are enchanted to not severely hurt anyone on game day, and he’s just a bunch of words right now. The game will probably end before he can even find you.” Ten patted his shoulder. Jungwoo said nothing else, but quickly after this everyone decided it was time to turn in for the night. Jungwoo was cautious while walking to the cabin, but Jaehyun and Ten were on either side of him and it made him feel somewhat more protected. If anything, the both of them can fight better than Jungwoo can.

The next morning, Ten and Jaehyun were a blabbering mess, excited and anxious, but Jungwoo only felt dread in his stomach. He knew the Hades kid was all talk and no walk (so far), but he was still apprehensive about finding that out for himself.

The three of them ate a quick and small breakfast, not wanting to fill up too much so they—they meaning Jaehyun and Ten—wouldn’t get sick while fighting during the game. Jungwoo, however, took his time, and he was certainly in no rush to get out there and prepare.

The time always comes around, though, as sooner than Jungwoo would like, they all headed out to the field where everyone was chattering excitedly and getting their weapon of choice ready while fastening up their chest plates and all black helmets with a stripe of either silver or gold down the center. Their teams were chosen earlier in the week, and Jungwoo was team gold long with Jaehyun, Ten, and the four younger boys, but they were all going to go in their separate directions. A whistle was heard, and Jungwoo felt nauseous.

“Welcome, everyone, to the first capture the flag game of a new year!” There were cheers heard all around, and Jungwoo decided to tune out while he fastened his weapon of choice to his wrists: hidden forearm blades that retract when jerked out violently. It was easy enough so that Jungwoo could maneuver easily over rocks and hills without hurting himself or having to drag anything too heavy with him. He also put two smaller knives into his belt for safe keeping. He stood up straight and tuned back in just in time to hear, “Gold Team, please stand to the right! Silver Team, to the left!” They all shuffled around until everyone was situated in place.

“The flag was expertly hidden this year. The entire grounds, excluding the field and recreational areas like the halls and cabins but including up to the barrier could hold the flag. Best of luck to both teams, I hope you come out victorious. Take your stances teams! Begin!” There was a sound of a whistle and immediately afterwards, footsteps running in every direction, mostly towards the vast forest beyond the training grounds. A handful of people ran towards the lake and grabbed canoes, and two or three people hung behind for a moment, letting everyone disperse. Jungwoo definitely wanted to stay out of eyesight of anyone, so he headed back to his special spot.

The thing about capture the flag here at Camp Half-Blood is it’s wired to work a little differently than the typical game of capture the flag. Instead of both teams having one flag to guard, and their objective is to get the other teams flag, both teams are after one flag, and when someone grabs it, the game is over, and that team wins. It was better for Jungwoo, because he didn’t ever find the flag, so he could always play it off like he went looking, but was in reality hiding and never came across anyone. It was a win for him as well as whichever team managed to get their hands on the flag.

Jungwoo casually jumped over rocks and fallen trees on his way to the spot, listening to the crunch of the branches, appreciating the sunlight that was brighter than the day before as it was much earlier. He took a deep breath in and continued on his way down, looking forward to sitting and hiding out until he heard the all too loud whistle signifying the end of the game.

He rounded a corner of a particularly large tree trunk and was about to step foot onto the patch of grass when he stopped dead in his tracks, heart in his stomach and mouth open wide.

There, across the little stream of rushing water over slippery rocks, was the flag.

It was mounted onto a metal pole stuck into the ground that Jungwoo knows wasn’t there yesterday, or ever, and as of right now, he was sure he was the only one who knew about it. He removed his helmet, dropping it onto the ground, took a deep breath in, and began walking toward the flag.

On his third step over, foot in the middle of a high patch of grass and wildflowers, he felt a sharp prick in the middle of his shoulder blades, pressing down on his spine. He froze, scared to move another inch, knowing exactly what was happening, and he was not ready. He gulped, tried to still his shaking hands, and slowly turned around.

He came face to face with none other than the child of Hades himself, just like he had promised he would see him. Jungwoo didn’t turn fully, but had his face directed fully at him. His eyes were not red this time, but the irises were black, and it was the only thing he could focus on. The boy smirked and dropped the sword to his side, tilting his head slightly at the terrified state of Jungwoo. His hair was gelled onto the top of his head, and although Jungwoo as trying to take in as little detail as possible, he couldn’t help but notice how nicely the blonde on him looked in the natural sunlight.

“I knew I would see you here.” He grinned.

“No, you didn’t.” Jungwoo breathed out.

The boy took a step closer and Jungwoo took one back on instinct, the expression on his face was never wiped clean.  “But I did. I told you that I would see you in the game, did I not?” Jungwoo said nothing. “And now here we are. With no one else around, and that flag is so close, but I’m not going to let you hop over this stream and catch it and win, can I? Not when you hurt one of the best fighters I know.” He laughed evilly.

“What, are you going to fight me?” Jungwoo dared. The smile finally started to slip away, and Jungwoo almost regretted asking that.

“Yes, I am going to fight you.” Jungwoo saw the grip on his sword tighten.

“You aren’t wearing anything, though.” Jungwoo observed how he had a lack of chest plate and helmet, and suddenly the weight of the plate over Jungwoo’s torso felt all too heavy to function.

“I know I won’t need it when I’m fighting you.” The hellish smile appeared again.

In a quick, rash, and most likely bad decision, Jungwoo moved his hands around to his sides to unfasten he straps that was keeping the plate over his body, and he tossed it on the ground by his helmet. He saw Hell boy raise an eyebrow at this.

“Equality, I guess?” Jungwoo nodded once. “Then let’s do this.” He did the same fancy swinging motion that Jaehyun had done yesterday looked ready to pounce. Jungwoo brought both hands up to his chest and then swung them harshly back down to retract the hidden blades in his wrist holsters, both of them extending to a whole forearm’s length out from the base of his hand.

Hell boy swung his sword hard to the right, to which Jungwoo effectively blocked with his own blade, but right away he noticed he was going to be screwed for this fight. The boy had only swung once, but it was very hard, and almost threw Jungwoo off balance, and if Jungwoo was going to show him up, he couldn’t lose within the first few minutes.

He swung the sword again from the other side, and instead of blocking it with the blades, he ducked, and swung at the boy with the sharp metal once he stood back up, but he dodged that skillfully. This went back and forth a few more times before one hard swing from Hades’ kid and it sent Jungwoo stumbling backwards, his boot landing in the stream behind him. He fell back, the middle of his back hitting the hard bank on the other side and Jungwoo hissed, but he got back up after some difficulty. He didn’t stand straight up, but he lunged forward instead and ripped the fabric of the boy’s black pants with his blade, to which he backed up, kicked Jungwoo’s shoulder so that he rolled over, and attempted to kick him again, but Jungwoo rolled out of the way.

He stood back up and kept swinging his arms so that it countered every attack that the boy would make with his sword, the clash of the metals was all either of them could hear.

Hell boy attempted to stab Jungwoo with the sword instead of swinging it this time, and Jungwoo backed up, but Hell boy was faster and delivered a swift kick to the center of Jungwoo’s chest, making the air leave his lungs and causing him to fall backwards. Hell boy stood right over Jungwoo and lifted the sword right over his head and was about to bring it down hard on Jungwoo, which seemed way more than the guidelines for this game would have allowed. Jungwoo quickly brought up his blades and crossed them, the sword meeting at the intersection. Jungwoo’s arms trembled trying to keep the sword from slicing his face. He was struggling, and it seemed like he was close to a loss.

 _He’s going to kill me,_ Jungwoo thought. _Jaehyun was right. He is going to be the one to kill me._

He could see the other boy’s arms shaking as well, trying to force the sword lower. He laughed, quick and breathless.

“I’ll only kill you if you really want me to, pretty boy.”

The name ‘pretty boy’ hit Jungwoo in the chest like a ton of bricks, but he didn’t let it affect him as he maneuvered his hands so that the sword went flying to one side, and Jungwoo went rolling and escaped underneath the other. When he did this, however, he miscalculated how far the he needed to go, and he felt the sword cut the skin right under his eye, and he cringed when he felt the warm blood pouring over his cheek. He stood up, though, and used this time to jump over the creek and lunge for the flag.

He was no so quick in his movements, because right before he could grab the flag, a stab of pain shot up his body, starting at his thigh. Jungwoo screamed loudly and brought his hands to the back of his thigh where he felt half of a pocket knife sticking out of it, and realized with terror that a knife was thrown at him, and it was now sticking out of his leg. He gasped hard for air, seeing out of his peripheral vision that the other boy was making his way closer and closer, and Jungwoo grabbed the base of the knife and yanked it out of his thigh, yelling while he did so. He dropped the blade to the ground and threw himself forward once more and his fingers wrapped around the cloth, breaking the bond where it was held to the metal pole.

Jungwoo may have captured the flag, but the game was not over yet. He needed to get back to the base.

Without thinking, he reached into his belt for the knife he stored there and threw it quickly across the river and it slashed the other boy’s exposed bicep, and he hissed and grabbed at it, making him halt in his efforts to get to where Jungwoo was. He took this time to go back across the stream, around the boy that tried to grab his boot with the arm that was injured, and he started running.

His thigh was burning hard, but he couldn’t waste any more valuable time as he knew Hades’ son was hot on his tail. Luckily, the knife he threw at Jungwoo must have been his only one as there were no more setbacks in Jungwoo returning to camp.

There were multiple times where his legs wobbled and the searing pain in his thigh made him want to stop, want to slow down, but he knew he couldn’t. He hurdled himself over trees and around rocks, forcing himself to ignore the quickly dampening of his pants and the fact that he knew he was ripping the cut deeper and deeper. Jungwoo was breathing hard, tears running down his face at the force of the pain and the lack of oxygen entering his lungs, the boy riding his ass and gaining on him with every new step, but Jungwoo pushed himself forward. He didn’t stop running.

Finally, after what must have been hours of running, he could see the cabins come into view, and with one last push and burst of energy, he flung out of the forest and onto the gravel where it was much easier to run, and he went straight for the counselors at the center. Their attention was suddenly turned towards the two and the spread out so Jungwoo ran into none of them, but that didn’t happen as his leg finally gave out and he tripped and slid onto the base, clutching the flag tightly in his left hand. He laid there, let go of the flag and heard the whistle, but ignored it in favor of yelling when he put severe pressure onto the deep cut in his thigh. People coming out started to surround him, they were cheering for the win or mad at the loss at first, but became concerned when they saw a crying, writing Jungwoo clutching his thigh.

The counselors bent down but Jungwoo wouldn’t let them get near, he only stopped fighting when Jaehyun and Ten bent by his side and forced him to remove his hands. Jungwoo could feel the slick blood over his fingers and cried hot, thick tears when a tourniquet was placed just above the cut and he was lifted by the underarms by his friends, who dragged him off to the infirmary.

Jungwoo was sure he blacked out because the next thing he remembers is he is laying on a bed that was not his, and his leg was completely numb. He groaned and leaned up onto his elbows, looking around, eyes widening when he saw someone sitting up in the bed next to him with a wrap on their bicep and pressing a cold pack over it.

“You put up one hell of a fight out there.” He spoke slowly, the malicious intent no longer dripping from his voice, but he sounded sincere, and Jungwoo didn’t feel frightened or angered by it. He also noticed that his eyes were not black, nor red, but a deep chocolate, he could actually define his pupils from the rich brown of his irises. He much preferred this look to the other two. “I must apologize for coming off so horrible. You proved me to be the wrong one here.”

“You fought, too, though.” He shook his head.

“Not like you. I would not have been able to run a straight mile with an inch-deep laceration in my leg, but you did. So much respect to you for that. I’m sorry for trying to be a tough guy.” He laughed self-deprecatingly.

“I didn’t know I could fight like that.” Jungwoo confessed.

“I didn’t know you could fight like that either, Jungwoo.” He smiled. “By the way,” He broke eye contact. “I told them that I didn’t mean to harm you that bad. I know weapons are enchanted, and I can’t explain why it cut you so deeply. I didn’t intend on doing that.”

“It’s fine.” Jungwoo whispered. He let himself lay back down onto the bed.

“I think I will go now.” He looked out the window above Jungwoo, and it was only then that Jungwoo realized it was dark. “I don’t need to stay here like you. I just waited for you to wake up so I could talk to you, sort things out, not make myself look like an asshole here.” He quirked a smile. “See you around.” He got up and made his way to the door, nearly out of it when Jungwoo stopped him.

“Wait,” Jungwoo croaked. “What’s your name?”

The Hell-raised boy with pretty blonde hair turned back and flashed a quick smile. “Call me Lucas.”


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait, going thru some stuff in my life atm. more updates coming soon :)

Peace and quiet is what Jungwoo had expected from being injured while the rest if the camp continued their demigod duties, like play fighting and pretending to rescue each other from trees as if they weren’t capable of climbing. There, all alone, battling the injury by himself. A cup of tea, a good book, which thankfully, he remembered to bring some new ones this year, and nothing else on his mind to prevent him from getting the peace he had wished for since day one.

This serenity lasted for a whole day, maybe even less.

It was now ending the only week that Jungwoo was scheduled to be chained in the bed, and while he was thankful, he couldn’t help but wish that he had just a slight bit more privacy than he happened to get. While the medication he was given made him doze of very fast and gave him vivid dreams even Stephen King would be envious of, he remembered unfortunately all of the distractions thrown his way.

Lucas didn’t come by again after he walked out when Jungwoo woke up the first night. Jungwoo was thrown into a restless sleep, overthinking everything way more than what could be deemed acceptable. He had dreams that were revolving around the persona that is Lucas, Hades, and any combination of the two. Jungwoo didn’t know what Hades looked like. He imagined some kind of taller, handsomer Lucas. This was probably not wise, but Jungwoo can’t control his dreams.

The first day it was Jaehyun and Ten. While it was the miniscule memories that Jungwoo didn’t remember, he remembers the broad details of what they talked about. Ten rambled on about some kind of new piece of magic that he learned all demigods could do, and Jungwoo just nodded while laying back with his eyes closed. Truth be told, he was trying to go to sleep.

Jaehyun talked about the fact that the knife should not have cut Jungwoo so deeply, and even if it did, the magic of the knife and the magic that demigods have inside them should have prevented the cut from getting so deep. Jaehyun claimed he was doing a lot of research on the enchantments they use, saying that no record ever accused them of being faulty, and Jungwoo was truly a mysterious case as to why the magic seemed to ignore him.

This did irk Jungwoo as well, he had injured someone a day or two before the match and while it was an accident, the sword cut pretty deep, and then the day of the competition, Jungwoo managed to get stabbed when the counselors had sworn that they would not be seriously injured. It did freak Jungwoo out, but not to an extreme point.

The next few days consisted of either all together or separate of the four younger boys, and Jungwoo was so glad there was only one day that they were all together. Basically, they were very loud and almost got kicked out, so left quickly and decided to just come separately. This was great news for Jungwoo as he used the rest of that time to sleep and read.

The only day out of those next few he remembered was Donghyuck. Although the boy was loud when he was paired with Mark, Jaemin and Renjun, he could hold a very intelligent conversation on his own, and besides his two best friends, Jungwoo found himself greatly enjoying the company of the younger boy. He remembered bringing up what Jaehyun had prosed about the enchantments, and Donghyuck had a jab to throw in.

“Maybe magic just defies you.” He shrugged.

“I doubt that. But at the same time, it seems reasonable. I don’t have any demigod powers and there’s no aura flying over my head constantly like some of the people here.” Jungwoo sighed.

“Just because you don’t have a colorful mist following your every step doesn’t mean there’s no aura. There is definitely one, people can tell you come from Aphrodite. It’s very easy.”

“My looks seem to be the only thing people pay attention to.” Jungwoo mumbled.

Donghyuck contemplated this. “Well, it’s definitely an eye catcher.” He laughed. “When I first met you, you seemed very put together. An airy aura, you float by everything so easily.” Jungwoo closed his eyes.

“I wish I could float by everything. Float right on out.”

Donghyuck stayed silent for a moment, letting Jungwoo have his moment of fantasy. “I want to leave, too.”

Jungwoo cracked his eyes. “We should go together.” Donghyuck hinted a smile.

“That’s something I can consider.”

Jungwoo maneuvered himself so he sat straight up. “Why do you want to leave?” He questioned. When Donghyuck didn’t answer right away, he took his words back. “You don’t have to tell me if it’s too personal.”

The younger boy shook his head. “I just don’t belong here.” Jungwoo wanted to say something along the lines of ‘most people don’t belong here’, but the look in his eyes made him halt. “I’m not a demigod.” This was the first time Jungwoo heard anything about Donghyuck’s decent, and he wasn’t even sure any of their friends knew as well. Donghyuck answered this suspicion. “I try to avoid this subject with anyone, even Mark thinks that I come from a God, but just thinks it’s sensitive information and doesn’t try to pry it out of me. I just, to myself at least, stick out like a sore thumb.”

“You’re not a demigod?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a son of any God or Goddess that I know of. I could be, but I have two mortal parents, that I do know for a fact are my birth parents. I don’t even remember entirely how it happened. I was in the woods with a friend of mine, not to sound weird, or anything, there were some small woods behind my childhood home, and all I remember was my friend disappeared and I didn’t panic, like I probably should have. It’s all so blurry. A satyr came out of nowhere and just, told me I held demigod powers. I got explained everything about demigods, but no known parent. I don’t even know if that exists. For a long time, I doubted if I even was demigod at all, but the fact that I passed the barrier at all proves me wrong.”

“The barrier is faulty sometimes.” Donghyuck shook his head.

“No mortal had ever stepped foot into Camp Half-Blood, and it’s for a reason. The barrier keeps them away.”

Jungwoo thought for a moment. He thought he could relate to Donghyuck on a level, because unlike both of his best friends, he never exhibited any kind of demigod behavior. There was nothing jarring about his appearance that made the immediate, ‘Oh, you’re a demigod’ connection with anyone. Donghyuck seemed like he knew, though. At the same time, it seemed like he knew nothing.

“I thought for a while that the satyr was wrong.” He adjusted his seat. “They are never wrong though. They delivered some of the most powerful demigods to Camp Half-Blood, and I’d be damned to doubt a satyr and his instincts.”

Jungwoo shrugged. “Who was your satyr?”

“I don’t remember his name. I only remember he had hair that looked like it should be poking him in the eyes and a face that looked too good to be human.”

“Well, yeah, he was a satyr, not a human.” Donghyuck laughed at this. “I don’t remember my satyr’s name either. I know if I heard it though, it would click.”

“Same.” Donghyuck sighed and stood. “Don’t mention this to anyone. It’s been years, but it seems my thinking process of figuring out my true identity is never over.”

“Good luck to you, friend.” Jungwoo said with a smile as Donghyuck walked out of the door. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the week was not as eventful.

Mark ended up coming by individually, but he only stayed for a handful of minutes as he was not close with Jungwoo, and mainly talked about whatever Jungwoo was missing in the outside world. Of course, Jungwoo preferred this room to the vast forest full of demigods, so he only pretended like he was sad he was missing out.

By the last day of Jungwoo’s stay, Jaehyun ended up coming back to escort Jungwoo back to the cabins. Jungwoo was being supported by Jaehyun under his arm and he had a slight limp in the leg that he was stabbed in. Saying stabbed sounded weird to Jungwoo, because it wasn’t intentional. He was sure Lucas had thrown the knife in an attempt to scratch him, but it took an entirely different route.

The wound was bandaged heavily now, he was on multiple painkillers but he was still sensitive and couldn’t stand on his leg completely, so to his luck, he was exempt from most camp activities for a few days. He took full advantage of this—lying in bed with no distractions sounded like an ideal way to spend a few days where otherwise he would be forced to get up and socialize.

Those said days were smooth sailing, he sank into his sheets like he was laying on a warm cloud, the sun peeking through but not enough to wake him, peace and quiet, the distant (very distant) sound of campers yelling on the field, and the birds that chirp while sitting on the dock and pecking for food. It was like a much-needed vacation for him, besides the fact that he had to sit while showering and he couldn’t lay on one side for too long.

Like any good thing, the week had to come to a close, and Jungwoo was unfortunately well enough to stand on two legs again. He was still told to take a break from physical activity, which he was going to do anyways, so he sat underneath the shade of the large oak tree without feeling guilty that he was letting his friends tough it out alone.

Donghyuck was not next to him today, so he was alone with his thoughts to watch the campers continue what they seem to do every day of the months they were there. Jaehyun was not on the field today, surprisingly, but it was nice to see Ten out there for once, practicing his archery skills. It always amazed him how flawless at archery Ten was. Being an offspring of Artemis, the natural ability to aim and hunt was in his blood, and every time he carefully lined up his shot, it was like the planets lined up with him and helped him hit the bullseye every time. Jungwoo recalls people wanting Ten to teach them how to shoot a bow and arrow properly, but Ten never did. He always answered it’s in my genes, and for you, it’s in good practice.

Jungwoo personally didn’t see the attraction in archery as graceful as it seemed when Ten did it. He tried once, the arrow went five feet above the target itself, and he never tried again. He was almost 100% sure they never even found the arrow, either.

On the other side, he saw Lucas’ friend Sicheng, whipping around a sword with the boy whom he remembered to be named Jeno. The only reason he recognized Jeno was because of the day a week or two ago when Donghyuck tried to shield himself from him. He would have to ask Donghyuck about that later.

Behind the two, though, was the center of Jungwoo’s current attention. Lucas himself. He was parading his friends around like he was the king of the world, laughing with his whole chest and daring anyone who walks by to fight one of them. Jungwoo was even sure he could hear the words ‘best fighter in the world’ come out of his mouth, but he couldn’t be too sure. Jungwoo’s eye twitched.

How could Lucas stand before everyone and boast so easily when he broke down when he was defeated? Was he always expecting to be defeated? Jungwoo could easily tell anyone he wanted that Lucas basically bowed on his knees to Jungwoo for putting up such a fight. It seems like a fake story if anyone watched how Lucas acted when all eyes were on him. King of the world. Best fighter. Can’t be defeated. But he will kiss your feet if he is defeated.

Jungwoo was annoyed. He thought Lucas was not the person he seemed to be, but no, he was exactly that person.

Jungwoo narrowed his eyes the more he looked at him, seeing him boast himself and his friends and talk to potential opponents like they were dirt. That was how he talked to Jungwoo, even, so sure he would have beat him, and he almost did if Jungwoo wasn’t so intent on proving him wrong.

If Jungwoo did it once, the great idea popped into his mind to do it again.

If Jungwoo could defeat Lucas once, and he possibly has him right under his nose now that he claimed he doesn’t want to come off as an asshole (but goes ahead and comes off as an asshole), he could easily shove him back down to where he belongs.

He was interrupted by Ten finishing his practice and sitting down next to him.

“This weather is so nice. Always makes my aim better for some reason.” Jungwoo chuckled.

“No, Ten, I think you’re aim is just always good.” Ten cracked a smile. “You keep looking at the Hades boy over there. Something wrong?”

Jungwoo shrugged. “I don’t know. He told me he was sorry for coming off so strongly, but continued to do it. It’s like nothing even happened. What was he doing while I was inside the whole time? Beating people? Pretending he’s all that?” Jungwoo scrunched his eyebrows.

Ten mimicked the shrug. “I wasn’t paying attention most of the time, but I know one day he did rouse someone who wasn’t even bothering him to challenge. Says he was disturbing the atmosphere.”

“And?” Jungwoo egged on.

Ten clicked his tongue. “He beat him. I think he really holds himself to high status since he beat Taeyong, that kid, and is son of the God of the Underworld. People with negative connotations tend to think too highly of themselves, ironically.”

Jungwoo sighed. Lucas continued to shout his golden heritage to the crowd, daring everyone casting glances that he can beat them.

“You know what would really shut him up?” Jungwoo muttered. He heard Ten sigh next to him. He took that as an initiative. “If I could kick his feet right out from under him. I beat him once. I can do it again.”

“Okay, but, Jungwoo, the last time you beat him, he severely hurt you, and he was so set on winning that he didn’t even realize what had happened.”

“Yeah, but he came in to say that he wanted to apologize for coming off so wrongly. If he can say that to me, but come off to everyone else as an ass, I can surely show him what’s up.”

Ten sighed again, but laughed. “I don’t understand you, Jungwoo. You claim to hate this place and its people so much but want to go out of your way to prove a demigod wrong and that you have power over them.”

“No, no, I never said I wanted to have any kind of power over them, I said I want to shut him up, and stop him from being so arrogant.”

Ten turned his head to look at Jungwoo, and said boy returned the gesture. Jungwoo could see Ten’s long black hair flitting in the wind, the layer underneath was sticking to his skin from sweat. “You’re a creature none of us will ever be able to figure out, Jungwoo. Props to you, for that.” Jungwoo laughed.

The rest of the day, despite the distractions coming and going in the form of his other friends, he couldn’t get Lucas off of his mind.

Lucas.

That name seemed so unfitting for someone with such a huge aura. ‘Lucas’ doesn’t exactly scream ‘I’m the best goddamn demigod any of you have ever seen’, it kind of just says, ‘hey, I’m Lucas’. And even though Jungwoo knew his name now, something in his gut told him that it was wrong to say his name around his friends, even though they would probably find out one way or another. And besides, Jungwoo thinks he preferred it when he didn’t know his name. Lucas, son of Hades.

Lucas, the boy who can make his eyes turn three, four different colors. Could all children of Hades do that? Probably, Jungwoo has seen people at the camp parading around with red irises like it’s no one’s business before. The one case of all the whites also turning black, though? That was different. Jungwoo had never seen that before. He didn’t even know that was a thing that demigods could do. He was the son of Aphrodite, he should be able to turn his eyes… purple, or something.

Lucas, the boy who went unnamed for weeks. The boy who was a mere mystery to Jungwoo until his knife went an inch deep in his thigh.

Jungwoo felt wrong knowing his name. Like it was a curse. Like Jungwoo was going to continue getting hurt because of the fact that he knew his name. Yes, Lucas did tell Jungwoo his name but only after he asked. Jungwoo guesses that if he didn’t ask, Lucas wouldn’t have told him. Jungwoo has all the power to tell anyone around him that his name was Lucas and that he wasn’t actually an asshole, but he couldn’t make his mouth form the words, ‘his name is Lucas’. But he held his tongue when it came to telling people he wasn’t an asshole, because clearly, he was.

From then on, Jungwoo decided that it would be his mission to bring Lucas back down to Earth. Or up to earth, if he had his mindset like Hades did. Jungwoo wanted to give Lucas a reason to stop opening his mouth, to stop acting like he was so high and mighty.

The thought of conquering Lucas again crossed his mind, and while it seemed like a grand idea, Jungwoo hated the glaringly obvious obstacle of having to become good at using weapons, and having to master a sword. He could ask Jaehyun for help, but he was afraid another mistake like last time would ensue. He could ask Ten, but Ten wasn’t nearly as skilled in sword fighting as he was in archery, and Jungwoo figured he couldn’t do much with an archer’s skill against a sword wielder.

He figured he would do what he does best: sit there and look pretty. Of course, Lucas could be immune to this, as it didn’t seem to work the first whole week of camp, but if he beat him once, he can beat him again, and he will put as little effort in as possible.

He didn’t see Lucas for the rest of the day, as Jungwoo went straight to the rec hall for dinner and then hobbled back to the cabin. He didn’t know where Jaehyun or Ten was, but quite frankly he wasn’t bothered by that, he preferred a bit of alone time to recover from the sudden onslaught of everyone’s attention after he came out of hiding for a week and a half.

Once settled, he laid back on his bed and listened to the sounds of crunching gravel as everyone was either heading back early or just going to eat. He heard the door open and wasn’t bothered when Jaehyun came into the room and didn’t say anything to Jungwoo, just collected his clothes and walked by to the bathroom. Jungwoo realized he was still wearing his day clothes and groaned before hoisting himself up and reluctantly changing, but sitting back down when he realized he needed to wait to shower, and there was no point in changing at all.

Ten minutes later, Jaehyun returned to the room, but Jungwoo noticed he looked odd, odder than he usually does.

“Something wrong?” Jungwoo interrogated.

“I don’t know, I’ve been looking so much into this weapon enchantment thing. It’s seriously freaking me out, I don’t know why something like that happened.” Jaehyun sat on the bed and put his head in his hands.

Jungwoo just shrugged. “It’s probably not a big deal, though. It happens. Mistakes happen.”

“But you don’t understand, Jungwoo.” Jaehyun faced Jungwoo. “Stuff like this never happens. Especially at a demigod camp. The protections they take to make sure that demigods don’t get hurt, or even die while dealing with weapons like this is crazy. Yes, they don’t put the enchantments on weapons seriously during practice and not game times, but there is still an underlying piece of magic on it.” Jaehyun stood up and started pacing, and Jungwoo followed with his eyes. “The thing that happened with Sicheng, yeah it was horrible and it shouldn’t have happened, but there should have been something that would have stopped the sword from going that deep.

“I don’t know if you saw, Jungwoo, but that was a deep fucking cut. He bled on me so bad. He made a fast recovery, thank god, but it was crazy how much that impacted him. The incident with you and the Hades boy, that shouldn’t have happened. Yes, it’s not against the rules to throw knives to be defensive, they run a pretty rough game of capture the flag here, but that wound that it left you with, there was magic preventing that. And I know because while I was off in the opposite direction, I watched two people fight and someone did the same thing, but the knife literally bounced off of his body. The knife scratched his skin and bounced.

“That... that is not what happened with you.” Jaehyun sighed. “It has to be something with him. He had to have put some kind of counter curse on the knife.”

“Jaehyun, that’s not possible, though. Those enchantments can’t be broken under the barrier unless by the Gods.” Jungwoo tried to reason with the frantic Jaehyun.

“I know that, and it’s freaking me out that I just can’t get to the bottom of this.”

“Is there anything else that seemed like it could fit the situation?”

Jaehyun shook his head. “No, not much. I saw what you said about the Gods being the only people who can break those protective enchantments under the barrier, and it made me think that the boy has some kind of power. It’s crazy. I saw something about the enchantments not working on mortals, but the barrier would have prevented that, so that wasn’t helping. I saw something about the enchantments not working on Gods, but what use is that when this is a camp full of demigods and if someone were a God they wouldn’t be down here.

“There’s something wrong in the system here. I really can’t get to the bottom of it, though.”

Jungwoo put his hand on Jaehyun’s shoulder. “No one is asking you to get to the bottom of it. It’s a problem that other people can solve on their time.” He said, not unkindly.

“But you could get hurt even worse while waiting. Both of those incidents were connected to you. You should have the protection of the Gods and those enchantments shouldn’t have failed no matter what.” Jaehyun shook his head. “I just don’t understand.”

“Well,” Jungwoo was silent for a moment. “Thank you for trying to help, but don’t stress yourself out in the meantime. You have to worry about big boy demigod things, like following in my footsteps for the next capture the flag game.” Jaehyun cracked a smile and rolled his eyes at that. Jungwoo stood.

“How’s the leg?” Jaehyun mumbled.

“Fine. A bit sensitive, but nothing a little bit of meds can’t fix.” Jaehyun simply laughed at Jungwoo’s antics and left the boy to waddle to the shower while he himself got comfy under the sheets.

That night was restless for Jungwoo. He can’t put his finger on why (actually, he could, but he thought about it too much today already), and for the most part, he laid in bed listening to the cricket’s chirp. He was still a bit traumatized by what he had seen the last time he was sitting outside, but he chalked that up to him being tired and paranoid about the events on that specific day. He took a deep breath in and figured what is there to lose. He wouldn’t find out if there was actually someone out there unless he went out again. So that’s what he did.

He decided to go to the end of the dock which wasn’t far away from his cabin and sit there. The water looked so calming and tempting, but Jungwoo knew better than to dip into the lake at this time of night alone. It was just sitting there, rippling occasionally at the little fish that would come to the surface, and the wind, and Jungwoo’s fingertips. He couldn’t help himself. It was tempting, a temptation even Jungwoo had a hard time resisting.

The water was cool to the touch, only the tip of his fingers dipped in, swirling the water like he was mixing the paint used to color the sunsets. For a second, he thought of Jaehyun and tried to channel his power, and wanted to see the water snake up his arms like Jaehyun loved to show off. He swiftly pulled his fingers out of the water after another second of pathetically trying to get the liquid to flow in such a direction.

He maneuvered himself so one leg was tucked under him and the other was now grazing the surface of the water. He knew it was going to be cold, so he took a deep breath and stuck his foot in, just letting it dangle over the edge. The water was cold, sending shivers up his arms and his spine, and he took a deep breath in, enjoying the serene silence of the night.

He heard more rippling around him and figured the fish were looking for food, so he kept his eyes trained on the water with the hope he might see a fish surface quickly. What he saw instead made him feel the opposite of what he currently felt.

It started with a touch. He thought it was fish brushing against his legs for a minute, then the touch never left his legs. He stared hard, trying to see something through the dark water, but there was nothing. The touch wouldn’t let up. His heart beat quickened, and he went to take his foot out of the water, but a hand broke the surface of the water and grasped his ankle tightly.

He couldn’t scream. He was frozen in place, and he knew if he screamed he would also attract attention he didn’t need. He struggled to release himself, but the grip was tight and cold. The hand looked as if it were underwater for years. No color, nails that were digging into his skin.

He was breathing heavily now, pulling desperately to detach the hand from his ankle. Eventually, he won the fight and the hand let go and sunk back into the water, but Jungwoo didn’t stay to watch it descend back to the bottom of the lake. He was up and running back into the cabin, where he threw open the glass door and slammed it shut, locking it tight and running to the room.

Unlike the stealth he had last time, he clumsily tripped while running into the room and fell hard on the ground, landing on the side of his body with the almost healed wound, but it was still sensitive, and he felt a lot of the impact. He yelled out unconsciously, waking his roommates.

Jaehyun sat up and switched the light on. “Jungwoo?” He sounded groggy.

Jungwoo was groaning on the floor, struggling to sit up, letting Ten help him in the process.

“The lake… Hand… After me…” Jungwoo was breathless and still trying to speak through the pain he was in. Ten managed to lift him up so he was sitting on his bed rather than the floor.

“What? Talk to me, calm down, you’re fine, Jungwoo.” Jaehyun sat next to him. Jungwoo started to calm with the relaxing movement of Ten’s hand on his back.

“I was sitting on the dock to get air because I couldn’t sleep,” Deep breath in. “I put my foot in the water to just relax and feel it. I thought fish were touching my ankle.” Another deep breath. “I took my foot out and a hand came out of the water and grabbed my ankle and wouldn’t let go. I thought it was going to drag me into the water.”

Jaehyun didn’t say anything to this, but Jungwoo could tell that he didn’t believe him, but desperately wanted to. “You should sleep, Jungwoo. Nothing will get to you in here.”

“I’m telling the truth!” Jungwoo yelled suddenly, startling the two of them.

“I know, okay?” Jaehyun put his hands up in defense. “I believe you.” Lies. Jungwoo could tell. “Just get some sleep, I’ll let someone know what happened in the morning.”

Jungwoo was trembling, still looking wide-eyed and Jaehyun who let Ten direct Jungwoo back into bed and forced him to lay down. Jaehyun left the room for a moment. “Try to get sleep. Don’t go outside. We’re right here, you’re fine.” Jungwoo blearily stared at the ceiling while he heard Ten shuffle to his bed and heard Jaehyun open the glass door, then silence for a second, then shut it and lock it. He walked back in and shut the light, but not before making sure Jungwoo was in his bed already.

“There’s nothing out there, I’ll tell someone tomorrow. Go to sleep, Jungwoo.”

He listened to his friend’s instructions and let his eyes drift close and his heart rate slow, but he just couldn’t fight off the feeling of the death grip lingering on his ankle.


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for 1.6k hits and counting! i really love you guys <3

If Jungwoo thought he was different before for being the only person at camp who wishes he could leave at any given point, he thought he stuck the hell out now. He sat with his group of friends the next morning for breakfast, not feeling the want to eat and kept his gaze low on the table, carrying around the knowledge that something was coming after him at this camp. He couldn’t speak up about it, he knew Jaehyun didn’t believe him even though he said he did to calm him down last night, he would seem crazy if he said that someone grabbed his ankle in the lake last night. Jaehyun said he would say something, but Jungwoo was 100% sure than Jaehyun conveniently forgot to mention it, and just hoped Jungwoo thought it was a dream.

Jungwoo, for sure, did not think it was a dream. He could still feel the hand and fingers of his skin and he could feel the temperature of the water, the dock under his hands, the wind flowing through his clothes. He felt everything. He still can. It was not a dream. Jungwoo would love to have Jaehyun experience the same thing, but it would be ultimately frightening for the both of them, and Jaehyun probably still think it was just a crazy dream.

Jungwoo contemplated telling Donghyuck about it. Recently, he feels like Donghyuck is the only person who understands what Jungwoo is feeling. He thinks Donghyuck would take it seriously, like Jungwoo wants this to be taken, but he can’t be so sure. The fact that the younger boy confided in Jungwoo when he told him about his doubts about the demigod blood running through him, it made Jungwoo think that Donghyuck saw him as more than just a friend of a friend. Maybe Jungwoo did get it.

Jungwoo could almost say he felt the same. Jungwoo often looked at himself compared to his friends, compared to other children of Aphrodite, and he couldn’t see any of the same qualities that he saw in them. Maybe they were there, maybe they weren’t. He doesn’t know for sure, and he didn’t know of a sure-fire way to find out.

He was fearful of going outside. As if a hand was going to materialize from thin air and grab his throat to choke him out. Jungwoo knew he was being ridiculous, but even looking in the direction of the lake he got shivers down his spine.

Throughout the day, sitting in the rec hall, talking to his friends, taking a stroll further out into the trees, he was itching to tell someone. He wanted to tell Jaehyun but he was, again, certainly positive that he didn’t believe him at all. There were times he came so close, in this day alone, to pulling the older boy aside to relieve his worries. Jungwoo didn’t know how he could get Jaehyun to believe him, so his simplest solution was to stop thinking about it.

Of course, not that simple. There were plenty of theories running through his mind and none of them he could make sense of.

The first one was the most obvious, that Lucas was fucking with him, but the issue with that was that he hadn’t talked to Lucas since that one time when he was in recovery. He thought that Lucas had the ability to read minds, and Jungwoo thought that Lucas knew he wanted to get under his skin, to push him back down to where he ought to be. If that was so, then what did that mean? He was summoning the dead at the bottom of the lake (that Jungwoo was sure didn’t even exist) to come grab his ankle? Lucas wasn’t some kind of mind trickery master, that Jungwoo knew of, so it wasn’t possible that he caused a grand hallucination to take over. There were so many questions to that theory, and Jungwoo couldn’t answer any.

Another theory was that it was just all in his head. He thought he was going crazy due to overthinking everything, and the accidents that have happened, and even the presence of a new, strange boy in his life. Jungwoo thought very well he could have just been going crazy, but it didn’t seem viable enough for him.

The plate in front of him was nearly empty but he couldn’t bring himself to finish. He had too much on his mind to be preoccupied by eating right now, as much as it might help his healing process. The boys around him were chatting cheerily, paying no mind to the mood Jungwoo was in, figuring it was possibly just him dealing with the wound in his leg. He looked up. Mark was telling a vivid story about the kids in the cabin next door, (“And then he picked the ball back up and threw it at the wall, but it bounced--” he cut himself off to take a deep inhale from laughing so hard. “It bounced back off and hit him in the face.”

By the end, Mark was in tears and Renjun had water coming out of his nose onto Jaemin, who only laughed harder.) Jaehyun and Ten were silently laughing, big grins on their faces. Donghyuck had his head up and listening, but did not find it nearly as hilarious as Mark seemed to find it to be. Jungwoo bit his tongue, debating if his next move would be good or not. He had no way to find out until he actually did it, of course.

Jungwoo waited until everyone had started laughing again to look up at Donghyuck, and luckily the younger boy looked up as well. He swallowed.

“Can I talk to you about something?” He spoke as quiet as he could to make sure only Donghyuck heard.

The young boy grinned slightly. “I’m assuming you want to do it away from here?”

Jungwoo nodded. Donghyuck looked back at the group once and jerked his head in a direction to let Jungwoo know he should follow.

“Guys, Jungwoo and I are going to go bask in the sun and get a good spot to see who slits whose throat today.” Everyone either just murmured or said bye, and Jungwoo followed him out. He had forgotten today they were going to do an actual instruction to fighting today, and two people were allowed to volunteer to demonstrate the skill they’ve obtained over the past few weeks to kick off training.

They left the rec hall and trekked out, crunching on the stones and settling on top of a boulder tucked away under a tree, in front of the field where a few campers were warming up.

“So, what’s up?” Donghyuck settled next to him.

Jungwoo nervously chuckled. “It’s going to sound crazy, but like, this really happened.”

Donghyuck shrugged. “I’m all ears. Can’t be anything I haven’t had happen to me.”

Jungwoo sighed. “Well…” He started. “There was one other instance but I tried to tell myself it was a dream. It sucks, too. This all started happening after Lucas.”

“Lucas?” Donghyuck questioned.

“Right, the Hades kid. His name is Lucas, but some kind of force in my gut tells me not to say his name around anyone. I didn’t feel that just now, though, I forgot you don’t know his name.”

“Hades’ kids are weird.” Donghyuck commented. Jungwoo hummed.

“He told me his name is Lucas. I haven’t spoken to him since he apologized for hurting me.” He breathed, Donghyuck stayed silent, letting him speak. “Anyways, none of this started happening to me before I… saw him or whatever. The first night, I really tried to think that it was just me being crazy. I was sitting on the dock after having a crazy nightmare, that I’m pretty sure he was in, now that I think about it. The nightmare was me in the forest and I couldn’t run, and this being with red eyes started chasing me and breathed fire over me and shit. It was a lot more intense than I’m making it seem.

“Anyway, I was on the dock, and I heard a noise, and I thought it was just me recovering from that crazy dream, but when I looked to see what the noise was, I saw a hand. It like… grabbed the side of the cabin and crawled around the side, like whoever it belonged to was looking for something to steady itself on. I was freaked out and ran back in. The next morning, I didn’t say anything, but I don’t think it was just a dream after last night.”

Jungwoo silenced to collect himself for a minute. Donghyuck still didn’t speak.

“I can’t remember why I was outside last night, but I remember getting up and going out to the dock, because, I don’t know, the air helps or some shit. I dipped my foot in to feel the water, and when I went to pull my foot out, and hand grabbed me. A hand grabbed my foot and wouldn’t let go, but it eventually did. I ran back in the cabin and woke Ten and Jaehyun up and told them, and while Jaehyun said he believed me, I know he thinks I was going crazy.

“Am I crazy? I felt it. It was so real. I didn’t fake any of that. I really went outside, and I really put my foot in, and I really saw a hand. It was so… decayed. The skin was peeling, and it was so gray. The fingertips looked bloody, and the glimpse of the water that I got, I couldn’t see who it belonged to. It was like it was a really long arm.” Jungwoo chuckled breathily. “Either I am crazy, or something is targeting me and no one notices.”

Donghyuck didn’t answer for a moment, and Jungwoo can understand, he was probably drinking everything in. Jungwoo passed the quiet time by looking out into the field. The campers were prancing around each other swinging the swords and puffing their chests, and Jungwoo unconsciously scoffed. He swung his eyes over the expanse of grass, and they landed on the one and only.

“Speak of the devil.” He heard Donghyuck let out a laugh. Lucas was wearing a tight black shirt, sleeves cut short above his biceps and his long, black cargo pants hugged his curves nicely. He caught himself in the middle of his thought, asking himself what the hell he thought he was… thinking. Lucas’ hair was pushed on top of his head, the brown color was growing into the roots now and the blonde streaks were highlighted by the sun, his earrings glinted when they moved. Jungwoo was caught in a stare, but luckily, before Lucas could notice, Donghyuck spoke.

“You’re not crazy.” His tone was low, unlike Jungwoo had ever heard it. “I believe you.”

“You do?” Jungwoo was amazed.

“Yeah,” Donghyuck mumbled. “It’d be hard not to believe someone when you have seen the things they are talking about.”

Jungwoo looked over at Donghyuck, shocked. He had trouble forming words, his mind wasn’t running straight.

“You… what?”

“Yeah, crazy, I know. It’s like my life at home isn’t shitty enough, so some fucking being from the over world had to come and make it shitty here, too.” Jungwoo opened his mouth to protest but was cut off. “Don’t. I know.” Donghyuck sighed. “It started with something similar, but it was a hand against my window. I just kind of… stared at it for a while. It went away after ten seconds, but it was so scary. The middle of the night, none of my roommates saw it. I thought that I was crazy, too.

“You remember how I was worried that Jeno could get Hades—Lucas, to do anything he wanted? I thought that was it for a while. But I don’t think it was. I had a run in with Lucas once, it was coming back from the field, I knocked into him and I said sorry and shit, but he just… looked at me. I feel like it was that moment? That moment that… started it.

“It’s like I’m just all bad luck, you know? I know you can say the same, you’ve injured and been injured, had two encounters with creepy hands, and so have I. My other hand encounter was…” Donghyuck seemed to trail off, and Jungwoo placed a supportive hand on his thigh. “It was in my own cabin. My own room. My own bed. I had a nightmare. About being strangled. I woke up and felt like I really couldn’t breathe. I went to step out of bed to get a glass of water, to calm myself down, and as soon as I hit the floor, a hand came out from under the bed and grabbed my ankle. Grabbed on so fucking tight, I really thought it could have squeezed my foot off.

“I couldn’t scream, though. I was, like, frozen. After it let go, I went right back to bed, I didn’t even want to get up anymore, but I was scared to go back to sleep. I—” Donghyuck cut himself off, seeming to take back his sentence. “I stayed awake. I told Mark, and Jaemin, and Renjun and they said it was still the nightmare. I was convinced it wasn’t.”

“How long ago was this?”

Donghyuck breathed a laugh, humorless. “Oh, say, four days ago?” Jungwoo turned to him again.

“Seriously? What do they still think?”

“They think that it was the nightmare. I have tried convincing them that it was real, that there was actually something, but, they think I’m just… stressed.” Donghyuck sighed.

“How do you know it really wasn’t a dream?” Without saying a word, Donghyuck drew up his left leg, and Jungwoo observed from Donghyuck’s right side where he sat. Donghyuck reached down and started cuffing his jeans, and once it was halfway up his thigh, he pulled off his sneaker. Jungwoo gasped. He didn’t even check to see if he had anything like this. Bruises. Big, purple bruises, in the appropriate spot for a hand to have grabbed tightly. The edges of the bruises were yellow, and sickening, the center a dark purple, looked to be painful to the touch.

“And… they still don’t believe you?”

Donghyuck lowered his pant leg and sighed. “I… didn’t show them this.”

“What? Why?” Jungwoo shook his head. “They should absolutely believe you after that. Those are some nasty bruises, no offence, that’s not something you can do to yourself on accident.”

Donghyuck smiled lopsidedly. “They already think I’ve lost some marbles. I know they are my best friends and shit, but I really doubt myself, who I am, who I am supposed to be a lot. They think I’m kind of crazy for that. Stick by the whole, demigods in this camp only rule, and think that even if my family seems to be full, and complete, it probably isn’t if I am here right now. I doubt that so much. So, fucking much, Jungwoo. I know I’m not a demigod. There’s a lot of times that I think… I think I’m just plain. Just me.”

“A… a mortal?” Jungwoo scrunched his eyebrows. “That’s not possible.”

“It’s not impossible either, but it’s also not likely right now. None of the counselors know of any flaws in the barrier. How did I get in? There’s something wrong here, and more questions come up that I just can’t ask them. Mark is so proud of his lineage. I hate to call him a scumbag demigod, but he really is.” Donghyuck finished with a self-deprecating laugh. “Jaemin is such a champ, such a fighter. He has been through so much, and it’s not my story to tell, but he deserves his title. And while Renjun is quiet, he works hard. He really does. And when I stand back and look at the masses, I am not them. Those are teens with golden, glittery blood, but mine? It’s still fucking red. I don’t get it. I might never.”

Jungwoo was quiet. He didn’t think Donghyuck thought about it this much. He felt bad for the boy, he was hinted at that he goes through a lot at home, and he has to be plagued with these thoughts even here, too. Jungwoo really wanted to help him.

“You know, Jaehyun does so much research, but I don’t know where he gets all his information from. I can ask him? To see what we can find?” Jungwoo suggested.

“We can try.” Jungwoo looked back out into the field. Lucas was walking around with a sheathed sword attached to his hip. He stretched his arms back, and rolled his neck, and with the angle of the sun, Jungwoo could see every sinful muscle that was hiding under that cloth. “Not sure how much we will find, though.”

The field was hot when all the campers crowded around the base. There was chatter everywhere, and Jungwoo had difficulty spotting Ten or Jaehyun, or the group of young boys anywhere. He stood next to Donghyuck who seemed interested in watching some innocent camper get their ass beat.

Jungwoo got onto his tip-toes and scanned heads around him, and unfortunately, none of them looked familiar. He sighed, and resigned his actions, resorting to stand next to Donghyuck, wondering why they ever got down from the boulder. He looked back, contemplating going back up, but it was shot down when the seat was taken so soon.

It was a hot day, and it wasn’t helping that everyone around him was moving and chatting, only helping to increase the sweltering climate of the area. Jungwoo was appropriately dressed--thank god, he was wearing a pink short-sleeve shirt and shorts that came up above his knee, intending on just sitting there and watching the fighters, or watching the camper struggle to win against you-know-who.

Speaking of you-know-who, he was standing at the center of the field, watching everyone pile in, and looking out for some opponents that might be worthy of his time. It made Jungwoo sigh to himself, he really thought he was all that. He really thought that he could gauge skill just from scanning the crowd, and it was only acceptable if he had fought everyone at camp, and Jungwoo knows that is false. Jungwoo scrunched his eyebrows further with every second that went by, seeing Lucas’ confidence grow with how high he held his own head. Jungwoo scoffed and shook his head. At that moment, everyone had taken a seat, ready to watch the battle and instruction (but Jungwoo was sure he would fall asleep in that part).

A whistle sounded, and a counselor made their way out into the field.

“Okay, settle down, guys. I’m sure you all know of today’s plans, and just to satisfy all of our younger campers who like these kinds of things, we will start with the face off. Is there anyone who would like to stand up against… your name?” The counselor turned to Lucas, and instead of saying his name to the crowd, he just shook his head. “Stand up against a son of Hades, be warned, I know they don’t fight easy.”

Lucas laughed quietly, his mouth quirked. He looked around and his stance dared anyone to come up and fight him as best they could. A feeling started to creep up on Jungwoo, a tingle, almost, starting at the base of his spine and slowly, slowly making its way up his back. He shifted uncomfortably.

Someone decided to challenge Lucas. Jungwoo’s mind was fuzzy, he couldn’t focus on the scene happening in front of him. He blinked rapidly, wanting himself to focus, but it was no use. The tingle felt stronger the closer it grew to the base of his neck. He saw the boy get defeated, the sword flung out of his hand. Everyone cheered, Jungwoo’s hand started shaking.

They were looking for the next opponent, the tingle had settled in between Jungwoo’s shoulder blades. He started breathing heavier than he was, thinking it was the heat, but that was about all he could think in this moment. His eyes felt droopy, and he started to sink into himself, until the tingle shot all the way up to his scalp and he sat upright, not thinking, not having any control, and standing up in the crowd.

Donghyuck looked at him shocked, he grabbed Jungwoo’s hand from his spot on the ground. “Jungwoo, sit down. You don’t want to do this.” Donghyuck’s grip was loosened as Jungwoo shook him off, stepping around the campers staring at him and gasps and whispers rose into the air. Word spread quickly about his injury against this very boy, people were shocked to see him take the challenge.

“Jungwoo!” Donghyuck yelled. “This isn’t you! Stop, come back!” Donghyuck stood up to chase after Jungwoo but an arm wrapped around his waist, without looking, the younger boy knew it was Mark.

“Let him. He will be fine.” He tried to comfort him.

“No, you don’t get it…” Donghyuck whispered, turning back to the scene.

Jungwoo—or Jungwoo’s body—walked up to the field. All he could see was Lucas. The boy looked shocked, but trying to hide it, walking up to Jungwoo who took center of the field.

They stared at each other for a second, and Lucas scrunched his eyebrows as if sensing that something with this arrangement was wrong, but on an unknown degree. He swallowed, reluctant to move on, but doing so nonetheless. He handed the sword to Jungwoo by the hilt, and he took it wordlessly. He backed up, and blacked out.

Donghyuck had a grip on Mark’s forearm that was sure to leave marks but neither of them cared. He watched as they battled, Jungwoo looking more skilled than he ever could have been without practicing, jabbing at Lucas with much of the stamina he showed during capture the flag, but only Lucas could remember that scene. Donghyuck watched with horror as he carelessly swung the sword, the clang of metal ringing out over the field, everyone quiet and watching the battle in front of them. Donghyuck was panicked, not paying attention to the people that came up behind him.

“What is going on?” It was Jaehyun’s voice. “What is he doing, is he crazy?” Jaehyun whispered to Donghyuck.

Donghyuck shook his head. “I would tell you but I know you won’t think it’s real.”

“What do you mean? He could get seriously hurt again.”

Donghyuck turned to face Jaehyun, reluctant to let his eyes leave the scene. “He told me that you didn’t believe him about the lake thing. The hand in the lake? It’s real. It really happened. So, I know that when I tell you something is taking over Jungwoo right now, you won’t believe me.”

Jaehyun shook his head. “That… those kind of things don’t exist here. He was dreaming it and it was just really realistic. There was no hand.”

“There was.” Donghyuck harshly whispered to Jaehyun, who looked taken aback. “It happened to me, too, and none of them want to believe it. There’s marks on my ankle where a hand grabbed me. There’s a reason why it’s not happening to everyone, but we can’t figure that out. There’s a reason why Jungwoo is up there, and that is not based off his own judgement. Something is wrong at this fucking camp.”

Donghyuck turned back, away from the shocked faces looking at him, Mark’s arm still gripping his waist, just in time to see Jungwoo nick Lucas’ jaw with his sword and stumble backwards, and with one last strong swing, the sword went flying out of the son of Hades hands.

There was silence. There were gasps and suddenly there was clapping and cheering, and Donghyuck shook his head and sank back to the ground as he saw Lucas’ clique stare at Jungwoo with hate in their eyes, but Lucas was unreadable.

Jungwoo stumbled over and sat back down, but Donghyuck couldn’t look over at him. Everyone was clapping him on the back, but his face was eerie. Donghyuck knew this wasn’t him.

“Jungwoo, what the hell?” Jaehyun grabbed his shoulder. “What were you thinking?”

Jungwoo didn’t answer. He turned his head but only stared at Jaehyun, and it was then that Donghyuck saw Jaehyun grow worried.

“Jungwoo?” Mark inquired. Donghyuck watched Jungwoo with fierce eyes as he stood up to face Jungwoo. He was almost worried he was going to start beating up Jaehyun, but when he wavered as he stood up, Donghyuck shot up to catch him when his legs gave out, and he fell unconscious.

“That sounds like bullshit, Donghyuck.”

“It’s not! He told me, and I have the bruises to prove that it happened to me, too!”

“You’ve always been good at makeup, though, Hyuck.”

A sigh.

“Mark, you of all people should believe me, I woke you up to make you come sleep with me.”

“Nightmares happen, Hyuck.”

“Jungwoo has always been superstitious anyway. It could be his mind.”

“But it wasn’t!”

“Okay, Hyuck, it’s okay.”

Jungwoo was bleary eyed. He rolled over in his bed, desperate to keep the foggy voices out of his brain, but he started to stir when he realized that the voices belong to his friends.

He sat up slowly, careful not to further agitate the pounding in his head. He was in his own room in his cabin, his limbs felt weak and all he wanted to do was lay back down and fall asleep.

He didn’t, though every inch of his body was telling him to, he stood slowly and made his way out of the room, wondering as to why the fuck he felt like he got slammed by a WWE wrestler. He wasn’t limping but his legs weren’t cooperating either, they were shaky and hesitant, but he pushed himself onward.

When he opened the door, everyone quieted instantly, and he grew more confused than he had been five second ago.

Jaehyun, Ten, Mark, Donghyuck, Jaemin and Renjun were all sitting in the small living area right outside the outer glass door and their bedroom.

“What is going on?”

“I think you should tell us that, Jungwoo. What were you thinking?” Jaehyun shot up right away, accusation in his voice but watching carefully for if he were to fall over.

“What are you talking about?” Jungwoo questioned.

“Jaehyun, I told you he won’t know.” Donghyuck sighed and stood up. “You were acting so weird earlier. Do you know what you did?”

Jungwoo sighed. “No… what did I do?”

Jaehyun just stared at him, expression unidentifiable. Jungwoo looked at the whole group who had a similar face, except Donghyuck.

“You challenged Lucas. On the field today.”

“I what?”

“I know, it sounds crazy but you did. I don’t know what happened. I tried to get you to stay but you didn’t listen. It was like you couldn’t hear me at all.”

“I fought him?”

“And you won.” Ten chimed in.

“Won?”

“Yeah, you cut his jaw a bit and made him drop the sword, it was crazy.” Ten had a slight smile on his face, and the three younger boys started whispering about it.

“I… I don’t remember this.”

“I didn't think you would.” Donghyuck sighed. He stood up making his way to the front door.

“So, what? What does this mean?” Jaehyun asked. “If there is some kind of being that took over Jungwoo in that moment, that means he is in danger. If… if what you said about the hand was true,” Jaehyun addressed Jungwoo. “Then what does that mean for you?”

“And me.” Donghyuck jabbed back. “Don’t forget that this happened to me, too. There’s something, something that both of us have, or even lack, that makes this happen to us.”

“Hallucinations?” Jaemin piped in. “The barrier is strong this year.”

“That would suggest we aren’t demigods.” Jungwoo mumbled. “If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be here.”

“Is there any other reason this could be happening? Is there something you two do that no one else does?”

“Not to my knowledge, unless we do it not around each other.” Donghyuck shrugged.

Jungwoo shook his head. “It’s more than that. It has to be something ingrained in the both of us, I feel like it’s something neither of us will be able to figure out.”

“I’ve scoured all of the limited books that we have in the hall, there was nothing significant with that information, but that was regarding the way Jungwoo got cut. I can’t say I found anything significant, nothing worth memorizing.” Jaehyun sat back down.

“There is somewhere outside of camp.” Renjun spoke up. “It wouldn’t exactly be just crossing the street to get to, though.”

“Where?” Jaemin asked.

“It’s a huge library, actually, right on the outside of the entrance to this forest. It’s gigantic. It has a hidden area that only demigods are permitted through with a secret passcode. I think all of the employees are demigods.” Renjun looked around at everyone. “I’ve been there with my brother before. Some of the older employees know everything, and I think a few satyrs work there.”

“It’s possible?” Jungwoo suggested.

Jaehyun slowly shook his head. “You would have to leave camp. You would need a satyr to be with you, it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“It’s just leaving and coming back?” said Donghyuck.

“I mean… I guess. If you really want to, ask a counselor. It’s up to you, Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo shrugged. “I don’t know. I want to use this as an excuse to not have to do any work.” Ten laughed and Jaehyun playfully rolled his eyes. “I know I got hurt with the knife and I know whatever happened to me was crazy, and scary, and the hand in the lake, but for some reason, I’m not so intent of finding out everything. Just why certain things are happening.”

“There’s a few satyrs here at camp? Could talk to one of the older counselors.” Jaemin threw in.

Jaehyun shrugged. “The counselors are reluctant to admit that something might be wrong with the system. Most of the satyrs are the same way. I only know one satyr who is open to everything, wanting to learn about any loopholes the camp has.”

“Who is it?” Jungwoo questioned.

“His name is Yuta.”

“Yuta! He was my satyr! That was his name!” Jungwoo exclaimed suddenly.”

“Then that’s good. You can ask him what he thinks about all of this, he’s into this kind of stuff.” Jaehyun told Jungwoo hopefully.

Jungwoo nodded his head, deciding to keep quiet for the rest of the conversation, not entirely in it anymore. He sighed and told them he was going to go lay down some more and they were not reluctant to let him go. He sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about a lot. One of the main thoughts he had was because Yuta was the satyr he could talk to, the one who brought him to Camp Half-Blood, he could ask him why he thought Jungwoo belonged at the camp. Yuta could tell Jungwoo exactly why he thought Jungwoo was worthy of the position he has right now. Maybe Yuta had some of these answers.

Another thing running through his mind was the field today. The last thing he remembered was talking to Donghyuck about what had happened to him, and Donghyuck telling him that it happens to him, too. The boys just told him he had battled with Lucas on the field. He really did that? Never in a million years would Jungwoo voluntarily go up to the field to fight someone who he had seen take down so many campers, Jungwoo would have no chance. They told him that he won. He won? Against Lucas? That thought seemed extreme to Jungwoo. For many reasons, but one stood out.

If Jungwoo had won against Lucas, either it was his body exerting the full force that he had, that he probably didn’t even know existed, or it was whatever had taken over him. It was not him on the field today and that he was sure of because he remembered none of it. He didn’t remember even standing up, walking over to Lucas, he doesn’t even remember what Lucas had looked like up close. He nicked his jaw apparently, Jungwoo does not remember seeing blood, or feeling the quick resistance of the sword against his face.

Jungwoo laid down, feeling drained again. His body ached all over, probably from the physical exertion, but his soul felt drained, too. His mind felt weak, like there really was some being that had overcome him, controlled his movements. He wanted to sleep, but he was afraid he would be controlled again. Controlled to fall into the lake. It was like he needed someone next to him, someone to hold him down, stop him from moving by himself.

It was too much for him to handle. He wanted to sleep everything off, and resorted to dealing with the satyr tomorrow.

“You remember me, right?” Jungwoo asked Yuta the next day, inside of the meeting hall where said satyr sat in a chair, book in his hand.

“I’m a satyr, Jungwoo. I’ve helped such limited people in my life, but I remember all of them. So yes, I remember you.”

Jungwoo sighed, concealing a laugh of nervousness. “That’s good to hear, because I had a question to ask you.”

“And ask away.” Yuta had put the book on his lap now, listening to Jungwoo with open ears. Jungwoo looked over his shoulder instinctively, though he knew barely anyone would come to the meeting hall to chill out when it was sunny outside.

“I’ve been thinking a lot recently,” Jungwoo started.

“Ah, the thing that kills man.” Yuta chuckled.

“Y-yeah… uhm,” Jungwoo sat on the floor by his feet. “I was, like, wondering why you brought me here. What you saw in me as a demigod.” Jungwoo watched Yuta intently, the other man merely smiled.

“Doubting yourself?” Yuta asked softly.

“I just… I’ve been having things happen to me that shouldn’t happen to demigods. Kind of like hallucinations, but, almost more severe. Hallucinations, but they really happen. So, I guess, not hallucinations at all.” Jungwoo shifted. “I know someone else, too, who has been having the same things happen, and the other actual demigods with actual lineages that we told think we are just going crazy or something. I think it’s something with the two of us that makes us different. He thinks that he has no demigod blood at all.” Jungwoo sighed, and Yuta let him finish his final thoughts. “I just want to know if there was any mistake, or… answers to these questions.”

Yuta sighed, closing the book and placing it on the table next to him. “You pose some very tricky questions to answer, Jungwoo. I can see where these all stem from, and just know, that they are valid questions. First, you asked what I saw in you as a demigod. I must say that, while satyrs alike have no true way of knowing that anyone is a demigod right away, there is just a strong feeling. We have been trained all our lives to look for what makes someone a demigod, and I saw it in you when I saw the beauty you held. Not to take that in a wrong way, it’s something that all satyrs see in children of Aphrodite. Along with the ability to lift spirits of anyone around them. I saw that in you as well.”

“But, I don’t really have many other friends to lift the spirits of besides Jaehyun and Ten.” He shrugged. “And maybe my mother was just good looking.”  
“I’m assuming you say that in terms of a mortal being your mother.” Jungwoo nodded. “Personally, there’s a type of beauty that the children hold that mortals don’t. I do not think you are a mortal, and while we are flawed in some ways, that leads to me saying I cannot be fully sure that you are not mortal. But you’re in the camp nonetheless. It should be no worry to you.

“You asked next, what, if there were answers to the strange happenings?” Jungwoo nodded again. “I do not think that these are happening for a reason, but it could be what your friends think it is. There might be a lot on your mind recently.”

“Can Gods, or some kind of god-like spirit take over demigod’s bodies?” Yuta scrunched his eyebrows. “I fought against a son of Hades yesterday. It wasn’t me in my body, I blacked out, I moved without knowing what I was doing, and I remember none of it.”

“That…” Yuta hesitated. “That is peculiar. I only heard of one God who had that power and it has not surfaced in this camp for years. We have had no problem with it.”

Jungwoo raised an eyebrow. “Well…?”

Yuta sighed. “Hades.”

Jungwoo was silent in shock. He kept a straight face but his body felt slack again, everything fit into place, to Jungwoo’s demise. He had an encounter with Lucas in which Lucas tried to damage him, succeeded in that, and then won. Weird things started happening, and Jungwoo defeated Lucas yet again. Was Hades mad at him for defeating one of his children? There were too many children of Hades at the camp for him to do that all the time, so why Jungwoo? Was Jungwoo paying for what he had done to Lucas?

“But… I don’t think that the two are linked. I see it as just a coincidence.” 

“Are you sure?” Jungwoo whispered.

“Yes.” Yuta nodded his head once. “It’s not something that I would worry about. If Hades were to be targeting specific people…” He hesitated. “I can’t see it being likely.”

“You don’t sound very confident.”

“Well, like I said, I have no way realistically of being 100% sure, but it’s not something that satyrs put much mind to. Mistakes aren’t unheard of, but it’s rare. Very rare.” Yuta smiled, tight-lipped, and patted Jungwoo on the shoulder before hopping up. “Everything will be fine for you, Jungwoo. Enjoy your night.”

“Is it worth going?” Jungwoo asked Jaehyun later that night at the rec hall table.

Jaehyun shrugged, keeping his head on his plate. “Only if you really want to.”

“I’m starting to think it’s not. Yuta said that he doesn’t put much thought to it, so I don’t know, maybe I am crazy.” Jungwoo looked down, and he heard Jaehyun sigh.

“You’re not crazy, Jungwoo. You’re stressed, and worried about some stuff. It’s fine.”

Jungwoo sat there. He didn’t know what to think anymore. Deep down, he agreed with Donghyuck in saying that something odd is happening in this camp. Around Jaehyun, he did start to think that he was in fact just going crazy, but when he was alone, or talking with Donghyuck, he knew he wasn’t. If Donghyuck could vouch for him in this circumstance, then he wasn’t crazy.

Keeping all of this to himself really kept him up at night. And while his morale was somewhat in line after the incident that happened a day or two ago, sometimes, he couldn’t help himself.

On this night, he laid in bed with his eyes open, staring at the blank ceiling, thinking. He thought too much over these past few days and he wished it would all just slow down, allow him time to catch up. That, of course, was never possible, and he could only sit and fall further behind. He rubbed his eyes hard, wishing the sleepiness would come but it never did. He sat up, and while fully aware he was about to make a bad decision, he walked out of the room, out the glass door, and headed to the dock.

This time, however, he stopped short upon seeing something that gave him flashbacks to his dream. It was someone, hunched over, dipping their hands and feet in the lake. He stood there for a second and contemplated going back in, not wanting to disturb (nor talk) to anyone, but he didn’t move back. Instead, he moved forward.

His footsteps made the dock creak under his weight, and the person turned around. Jungwoo stilled again when he realized it was the exact person that he thought was the center of this all. Lucas.

Lucas stared at Jungwoo over his shoulder and seemed to slowly adjust his posture, and he made no move to start speaking, or to gesture at Jungwoo to go back in. He let him keep walking forward, didn’t say anything, sat up straight when Jungwoo slowly lowered himself to sit down next to him.

“Didn’t expect to see you here.” Lucas spoke slowly. Jungwoo turned to him, realizing that this was the only other time he had spoken directly to him since he was injured. Jungwoo cracked a smile.

“I come here a lot. I should be saying that to you.” Lucas smirked slightly, humored by Jungwoo’s jab at him.

“I’m almost afraid you’re going to kick my ass or something.”

Shit. Jungwoo totally forgot that he was basically possessed and fought Lucas on the field, in front of everyone. He thought he should tell Lucas that he didn’t mean it, but that just sounded strange. Of course, if he got up there and won the fight, he meant it. He wanted to tell him he had a few tricks up his sleeve, but Lucas was always on the field and would have seen him practicing. He wanted to tell him that some other being took over his body, but now he really did sound crazy. Instead, he pushed all of those thoughts aside.

Jungwoo shrugged. “You only deserve it when you act all high and mighty.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow. “High and mighty?”

“Yeah.” Jungwoo looked at him. “You act like you can beat anyone and anything, no matter what. It’s kind of annoying.”

Lucas breathed a laugh. “Didn’t realize my skill annoyed you.”

“I didn’t realize mine scared you.”

Neither of them said anything. Lucas simply stared at Jungwoo, amused look sitting on his face, his gaze softening.

“If I knew you had that kind of power in you I would have gone a lot harder in capture the flag.”

“I would have been able to handle it.” Jungwoo threw back, smirk slowly starting to form on his own face.

“Is that so?” Lucas leaned forward. The wind blew his hair across his forehead, and the arm Jungwoo was leaning on felt weak. “I didn’t realize children of Aphrodite really had it out to get the competition and own it.”

“Maybe our looks aren’t just the only thing that brought us to this damn camp after all.” Jungwoo scoffed. He looked back to the lake, the moon was in its waning phases, it’s light barely dancing off of the icy surface.

“They might not have been the selling feature in bringing you here, but they sure are when it comes to grabbing people’s attention.” Lucas spoke lowly, and to Jungwoo’s surprise, when he turned his head back to Lucas he noticed that the other boy had shifted himself closer to Jungwoo. He took a deep breath in, forcing himself to look away from his face. That flawless fucking face.

“Why do you say that?” Jungwoo whispered, not being able to bring himself to speak louder.

Lucas shrugged. “Something about you.” He matched Jungwoo’s tone, and at this point his mind was racing. Despite his personal protests, Jungwoo couldn’t help himself when he let his eyes graze over the boy sitting next to him. He was wearing a loose black tank top, the sleeves coming well below his rib cage, his biceps flexed nicely in the position he was sitting. His hair fell just below his eyes, and a hint of a smile was peeking through on his face.

They were close. They were too close, considering what Yuta had told Jungwoo earlier. Though it may be a coincidence to Yuta, it was a lot more than that to Jungwoo.

He stood up. Lucas’ eyes followed him, the smile gone and a curious look in his eyes.

“Sorry.” Jungwoo muttered. “I’m really tired.”

Lucas shook his head. “Don’t worry. Go back to sleep. We’ll meet here again, I’m sure.” Jungwoo said nothing, rather, couldn’t bring himself to say anything, and just walked back, not bothering to turn around to know Lucas was watching him retreat back up the dock and into the cabin.

He tried to make as little noise as possible and succeeded in doing so, laying down and closing his eyes, willing himself to sleep, willing himself not to dream of Lucas and how horribly handsome Jungwoo realized he was.


	6. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy this 6.7k word treat. sorry for the wait :/  
> also, thank you for 2k+ hits!!! love u all :)

Lucas is a mystery. Lucas is someone that has all the questions but no answers. Lucas is a dark sheet that absorbs any light like he doesn’t want to be seen. Jungwoo has the flashlight, but there’s no batteries. He can’t seem to find them either.

No matter how much he ponders it, he can’t find the answers to his questions anywhere. Like previously said, Jungwoo thinks Lucas might have the answers, but the more he looks at him, the less answers he finds and the more questions arise. Lucas was like a journey with no destination in sight. Lucas was a mountain so far away, but with every step closer it only seems to get further. Jungwoo wanted to know more. As much as he shouldn’t want to, he does. He wants to know Lucas. He wants to know the motives behind what Lucas does, what was happening to him under the influence of the devilish boy.

Jungwoo had just as many answers as his friends had. They had not the real one, but theories that Jungwoo was sure they wished were true. He grew tired of talking about this whole situation to them. Donghyuck was the only person Jungwoo wants to talk to about this, due to the obvious fact that he is the only one that believes him.

Even though he wasn’t, and Jungwoo knew he wasn’t, it felt sometimes like his friends were out casting him simply because he has these crazy hallucinations and thinks they were real. Part of him wanted to be out casted so he could prove himself to them, but he wasn’t sure there was anything to prove.

He really would like to pick everything up and just walk away. Just take everything he came to the camp with and leave. Leave Lucas, yes, but he barely knows him and he would be leaving these sick happenings behind anyway.

The idea wasn’t half bad. He had entertained the idea of running away multiple times, but with everything surrounding him right now, he might as well take his chances and leave while nothing serious has happened to him yet. Maybe he should take Donghyuck. Jungwoo was sure Donghyuck would love to get away as well, leaving only his friends here, but he was sure there was another way to contact them. He was sure.

Jungwoo was ‘sure’ about a lot of things. Well, he liked to tell himself that. In reality, and deep down he knows this as well, Jungwoo wasn’t sure about anything. Least of all what was going on at this camp even though he wants to chalk it up to hallucinations and being boy crazy. If that were the case, Jaehyun would have a field day.

Every second that Jungwoo thinks he discovers a new piece of the puzzle, he wants to consult Donghyuck, as if that boy holds the answers. He has been doing nothing but asking what the other boy thinks of all of this shit, but he only knows as much as Jungwoo. While Jungwoo could wish that Donghyuck should be much more knowledgeable than Jungwoo himself, he knew it couldn’t be possible. Jungwoo told Donghyuck about what the satyr had told him, and he could draw no conclusions. They found that the more they brought it up, the more convinced their friends were that they were crazy, and Jungwoo was almost believing it, too.

He refrained. He tried to stop himself from talking about this any chance that he got. He really held himself back because, at the end of the day, everyone was strange at Camp Half-Blood, and a few hallucinations were never unheard of.

The weather was slightly cooler today than usual, the wind blowing by in the tiniest bits, but that didn’t stop the camp goers from still wearing their shorts and tank tops. They still laid in the sun and tanned, or fought until both teams were sweaty and panting hard. Jungwoo was there to witness none of it, however, as he was sitting in the grass in the little patch of sunlight tucked far behind the cabins, by the stream that made a relaxing slush sound added with the chirping coming from the canopies. He swore he could have fallen asleep, and he thought he might have, if it weren’t for the occasional breeze that would send shivers up his arms.

He laid with his arms spread beside him, the grass tickling his skin and the wind making his hair brush across his face. Times like this, times where everything around him is so complicated, times where everything has multiple answers but none of them are correct, Jungwoo wants to stay here. Jungwoo would gladly waste his life away sitting under these trees, laying in between these flowers, standing above the stream. He would trade his demigod life to just… sit here. It wasn’t very productive, but then again Jungwoo never made great judgements.

As if some force above felt like Jungwoo was having too much of a good time, he felt a pain strike his forehead, and he instantly brought his hand up to relieve the ache. He opened his eyes, seeing no one around and not seeing something that could have struck him, he figured it was an oncoming headache that hit his skull too hard. He sat up now, watching the life fly by him fast yet so slowly. Again, he was back to wanting out. Wanting to be one of these creatures that just crawl by at a leisurely pace and have nothing to worry about. Ever.

He looked out further past the bank opposite him, seeing the faint blue of the border to keep the non-demigods out. He realized now that he had never trekked over there, as if something was stopping him. At this realization, he sprung up onto his feet, careful not to make his head throb even more, and hopped over the stream.

His feet hit the dirt with a dry thud and he looked around. From merely three feet away, everything looked different. Standing here, he was brought back to the capture the flag match, how he had lunged over the water to grab the flag and how Lucas had delivered a knife straight to his thigh. He couldn’t forget the look in his eyes as he took any measure to get Jungwoo down, like Lucas was a lion who was starving and Jungwoo was the antelope. Jungwoo forced down the chill he got from the thought and continued forward to the barrier.

When he approached it, it was like it was simply air in front of him with an aura. He grinned, the thought crossing his mind that it might be easier to breathe on the other side. Easier to live. He sighed, putting a hand out, waiting to feel the absolute no difference between the air of the camp and the air of the outside. It felt like that sometimes, felt like while they were outdoors, they were all really just trapped in a room with open walls.

It was nothing like dipping his hand in water, or just shoving his hand out in thin air. However, his fingers jammed as they reached the barrier, and he pulled back fast, the grin slipping off of his face immediately. He looked at his hand, then back at the border, and extended a flat palm to it.

Resistance. A hard, invisible wall.

He scrunched his eyebrows and brought his other hand up now, pressing on the barrier hard as if it were going to give way. He banged on it as if he were slamming his hands on a closed door, no sound was being made but there was clearly something stopping him from crossing.

Jungwoo felt a panic rise in his throat. Almost like suffocation, claustrophobia. He should be able to cross over. He should be able to walk out and past the border, he has seen other people do it before, he should be able to do it. Why was there a wall? Why was there a boundary he was not allowed to cross?

He stepped back, horrified. He bent down and picked up a rock at his feet, tossed and caught it once with his hand, and threw it at the barrier.

There are times when Jungwoo thinks things through well, and times when he does things on impulse. Now would be one of the latter times.

The rock did not cross the barrier, instead ricocheted off and hit him in the forehead, causing him to groan and stumble backwards. He brushed the skin with his fingertips and felt no cut, luckily, but he was sure it would leave a bruise.

Jungwoo couldn’t explain the panic that was coursing through his body. It felt like a panic that knew he would never get out. He was stuck here forever. There was no escape.

He felt unease all over his body and took another step backwards to go back, but a hard force on his back shoved him forward into the barrier, his face locked against the invisible restraints and whoever was behind him.

He groaned as the force never let up, hurting his body even further, fighting hard but never breaking away. Jungwoo gasped hopelessly, figuring that the stronger this force goes against him, he was sure to be crushed and ultimately die.

He felt the force move its way from the center of his back up to his shoulders, and he felt a pair of hands wrap themselves around his throat, constricting his breathing and rendering him useless.

He was ready to succumb to the force, begging unconsciousness to take him already, trying to breathe was so painful in his lungs, he wished he would collapse to relieve the pain in his chest. The hands and the pressure on his back lifted at once, and he fell to the ground, gasping for air and holding his hands to his throat. He looked around, desperate to find someone guilty of the crime but it was only him and the trees around him. There was no one.

When he brought his hands up to touch his throat, he pulled them back fast, the skin was sensitive and burned like whoever’s hands touched him inflicted physical pain, other than the obvious choking. He knew there were probably marks, there was no way he could hide that from his friends. He got onto his feet and stumbled away from the river, desperate to get out of the area.

The whole way back he kept looking over his shoulder, expecting something to be following him. He tripped over his own two feet, desperate to run back to the cabin, to be away from the spot where he found solace.

He didn’t think about anything except making it to his destination. He didn’t think about whatever it was that was still following him, or anything that could be seriously after him. Jungwoo knew for sure now that he was being directly attacked. Donghyuck would have told him about any mysterious force trying to suffocate him, but since Jungwoo doesn’t remember any mention of this, he thinks he might be the first one.

What was weirding him out besides the anomaly was the fact that the barrier was blocked. Jungwoo had never heard of the barrier shutting anywhere at the camp, not just at the entrance. It was blowing his mind how that managed to happen in the first place, and as bad as he wanted to ask Donghyuck what the younger boy thought, he would need to talk to the person who knows the most about the camp in his friend group.

Luckily, he was right where he thought he would be.

Jungwoo stumbled through the door, still panting hard, which startled Jaehyun who was close to falling asleep in the main room of the cabin. He looked to Jungwoo with wide eyes, waiting for an explanation, but jumping up, concerned, when he saw the state Jungwoo was in. He bent down to where Jungwoo collapsed to his knees, and without asking anything, hoisted him over his shoulder and helped him into the bedroom, laying him on his own bed.

Jaehyun stood over Jungwoo’s figure, who was still breathing heavily but luckily it was steadying, and just stared. Jungwoo coughed once, and spoke.

“You won’t believe me. I know you won’t.”

“Jungwoo, there’s not a story I wouldn’t believe right now. You’re bleeding and have dark bruises all over your neck. Either you were attacked or have weird fetishes, but I’m not one to judge, I guess.” Jaehyun inspected his face and neck further, Jungwoo wanted to laugh but didn’t have the energy.

“I don’t know what happened. Something came up from behind me and pinned me against the barrier. It started choking me and I almost passed out, it hurt to even attempt to breathe.” Jungwoo slowly sat up.

“The barrier? You would have just fallen through, and we aren’t allowed near the barrier.” Jaehyun sat on the opposite bed.

Jungwoo shook his head. “There’s just a spot that I go to a lot near a piece of the barrier. It was where they hid the flag a couple weeks ago. I wanted to look at the barrier, just because, and…” Jungwoo tried uselessly hand-gesturing what happened with the barrier. “It closed. Like a solid fucking wall. I couldn’t get out. And this,” He pointed to his forehead, which was now bleeding unfortunately. “Was because I threw a rock to see if it would go through and it bounced back and hit me in the face.”

“Well that was dumb.” Jaehyun laughed lightly, still looking concerned.

Jungwoo shrugged. “I tried to run away because, obviously, I was really freaked out, and then I was pushed into the wall and almost crushed to death. But I turned around to yell at whoever it was, and there was no one. Anywhere. I would have heard them approach me, but. No.” Jungwoo didn’t see himself yet, but he was sure he looked like a mess. He could feel blood running down from the small cut in his forehead and his throat was throbbing, he felt pains on the surface every time he moved his head in a different direction. There was no way to hide this from anyone. He could not hide.

“What do I do? I can’t fix this.” He whispered.

“I think you’re right.” Jaehyun sighed. “I think you are being directly attacked, but there is no one at this camp who can… use their powers like that? It doesn’t make sense. I have never even heard of the barrier closing like that. This is weird. I… don’t want to jump to conclusions, but my first thought is that you should leave. Being here is obviously causing too many problems that can’t be solved.”

Jungwoo said nothing for the moment, letting it sink in what Jaehyun just told him. Jaehyun really thought he should leave? He should finally go? Jungwoo was happy that he might have a chance to finally get out, but at the same time, the thrill of leaving randomly wasn’t there anymore. People knew Jungwoo would leave to protect himself. It wouldn’t be the same as just, say, disappearing.

“Would it be worth it?” Jungwoo muttered.

“You want to stay and continue the weird happenings?” Jaehyun asked him.

Jungwoo shrugged. He laid back onto the bed, sighing, closing his eyes. “I don’t want to think about this now.” He put an arm over his eyes. “I want to sleep.” He heard Jaehyun laugh quietly, and his bed creaked to signify that he stood.

“Rest then. I’ll clean your forehead.”

Jungwoo was lulled to sleep by the feeling of Jaehyun cleaning his wound, neither of them speaking, and the last thing he registered was bandages being stuck to his skin and a cold pack over his throat.

He felt stiff in the morning. He felt like it was impossible to turn his head from left to right as the skin around his throat was tight and limiting his movement. He wanted to stay rigid in this position for hours, not having to get up and face the world.

Since no one was around and his intrinsic instinct was to stay in bed, unmoving, he did so, hoping the day could roll by without him having to see people face to face, and probably answer the question of ‘what happened’ roughly 50 times or more.

Unfortunately, like Jungwoo’s life events, Ten burst into the room and upon seeing Jungwoo lying there, eyes glued to the ceiling, he laughed for a short second before speaking to him.

“What are you doing still in bed? I thought Jaehyun would have roughed you up by now.” He rummaged around. “You’ll be missing a great day, I know Renjun and Donghyuck asked where you went, you should—holy shit, are you okay? What happened?”

Well, at least Ten asked if he was okay before asking what happened.

“Did Jaehyun not tell you?” Jungwoo mumbled.

Ten shrugged. “He didn’t say anything. I saw him once this morning and he didn’t mention you at all. I just thought you were off with Donghyuck like usual, but he asked where you were and I figured you didn’t come out at all.”

“So, you came to get me?”

“Well, no, I came back to get something but just happened to see you here.” Ten stood over Jungwoo. “But seriously, what happened? It looks painful.”

Jungwoo just shook his head. “It’s too long of a story. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Ten just stood over him. He sighed. “Okay. Do you still want to see Renjun and Donghyuck? I can tell them that you’re here.”

Jungwoo shifted himself. “Sure. Tell them I’ll be here all day.”

Ten left after another minute, and Jungwoo closed his eye the rest of the time to block him out. He wished he could succumb to sleep already, he didn’t know what was making him so tired, all he did was sleep and suffer, realistically. He was not motivated to try and do anything, so he decided to sit and wait for Renjun and Donghyuck to come. He didn’t know if he should mention this around Renjun, or mention it to Donghyuck at all, thinking that the more bad things that happen would convince Donghyuck that he was just hallucinating.

Honestly, if Jungwoo told anyone that what happened to him was he was choked out by some invisible force, it would absolutely make him look insane, and there would be no way around it, and everyone would highly be doubting that Jungwoo was stable enough to be in camp.

Jaehyun said he believed him, but Jungwoo really wasn’t so sure about that either.

He heard the door open a few minutes later and in walked Renjun followed by Donghyuck. Jungwoo assumed Ten told them about his state as they both looked concerned, Renjun more so than Donghyuck, but there was another look underlying in his face. One that Jungwoo knew he wouldn’t let out until they were alone.

“Jungwoo…” Renjun spoke as they got closer. “What happened?”

Jungwoo didn’t say anything as he was moving to sit up, waiting to see if Donghyuck had something to say. When he didn’t say anything, he said what he said to Jaehyun.

“It’s a hard story to believe.” He sighed.

“Try me.” Donghyuck said as he sat at the end of Jungwoo’s bed.

Jungwoo made eye contact with Donghyuck, desperate to tell him what happened, begging him to believe. He didn’t say anything though because he knew Renjun wouldn’t believe, would think he was crazy, would probably not talk to either of them anymore if he found out what had happened to the both of them. Donghyuck sighed lowly and glanced over at Renjun once.

“He’s fine.” Donghyuck didn’t break eye contact with Jungwoo. “He’s one of the only people who believe me when I go on about crazy shit happening to me.”

Jungwoo cast a sideways glance at Renjun, who had his gaze to his lap, but seemed to make no indication that Donghyuck was lying. Jungwoo took a deep breath.

“Has the barrier ever shut for you?” Jungwoo asked either of them.

Renjun looked up at Jungwoo, and Donghyuck just slowly shook his head. Jungwoo turned towards Renjun when he saw he made a movement to get his attention.

“That… that’s almost unheard of. Only Gods can close the barrier. You mean like… it was a wall?” Renjun questioned.

Jungwoo nodded. “A wall. I wanted to step through just because I was… I don’t know, curious or something, and I put my hand out and it was just a wall. I threw a rock to see if that would go through and even that didn’t work, and it ricocheted and hit me in the forehead, and then…” Jungwoo shook his head. “I don’t even know how to explain it. It was like someone pinned me against the barrier and started choking me, crushing me, it was insane. But there was no one around.” He took a deep breath in, then out. He let Donghyuck and Renjun process what he said.

“And it did that to you?” Donghyuck pointed to his neck which was covered in ugly purple marks.

Jungwoo nodded. “I have no idea what happened. I don’t know why this happened to me but I’m afraid to ask if other people have had this experience, it might raise major suspicions and then…” Jungwoo shrugged. “People will think I’m crazy.”

“hate to break it to you, but people might already think you’re crazy.” Donghyuck shifted. “From accidentally hurting Sicheng with the sword, and then Lucas stabbing you even though there was no way that should have happened, to you having a hand grab your ankle from the lake, I wouldn’t be surprised if word around the camp is that you’ve lost your marbles.”

“But I haven’t! This is real shit that has happened to me!” Jungwoo defended himself.

“And I know that,” Donghyuck calmed Jungwoo. “And Renjun knows that. It’s hard to get these demigods to believe anything other than life here is perfect. It’s fucking hard because no one will believe you. Us.” Donghyuck shook his head.

“You haven’t thought of any reason why this might be happening to you two?” Renjun piped up. “Asking people is dangerous, especially if people already think that about either of you.”

Jungwoo shook his head. “Jaehyun is smart, and knows a lot, but I know, deep down, he really doesn’t believe me. I don’t think he would believe you, either. Maybe it is all in my head. Maybe that rare percentage of Hades’ children know how to get into people’s head and fuck with them is coming after me.”

“Oh yeah!” Renjun exclaimed, making Jungwoo jump. “That’s why we came here, Hyuck!”

“Oh, right.” Donghyuck opened his eyes wider and set them on Jungwoo. “We ran into Lucas today. And from the looks of what was happening, I don’t think that this shit is only happening to you. Or, better put, I don’t think it would be him deliberately doing this to you.”

Jungwoo scrunched his eyebrows. “What? Why?”

Donghyuck was about to speak but Renjun cut him off. “We went to walk into the meeting hall bathroom area, you know the one that’s open and has a lot of mirrors and stuff? For whatever reason?” Jungwoo nodded. “Well, we went to walk in and we heard kind of like a whimper, like someone was being hurt. I wanted to run and help but Donghyuck held me back, so we stood there and listened. It turned into almost a growl mixed with sobbing and then a voice that said… what did he say?”

“’Get out of my head’. I knew it was Lucas’ voice that said that, but he sounded… almost desperate. He growled that and then punched the mirror, and the glass went everywhere. We crept around the corner to see Lucas hunched over at the sink, holding his hands to his head, blood all over his arm. We didn’t know what to do so… we just left. And went to find you, then we ran into Ten, and you know. Now we’re here.”

Jungwoo took a minute to process all of this information. They saw Lucas in the bathroom, who seemed upset, based on their context clues, begging someone to get out of his head, and proceeded to punch the mirror. Jungwoo was taken aback by this information as what he was hearing sounded nothing like the Lucas he had sat on the dock with the other night.

He had almost forgotten about that encounter with Lucas. He had such a big, bad, and scary image of him in his head that he forgot how soft spoken and horrendously flirty the boy was that night, and the thought of it made Jungwoo’s stomach turn. What could have been the cause of Lucas’ actions? Who was in his head, and why was he so adamant on getting them out?

“Any idea what might have caused it?” Jungwoo asked, desperate for some information.

Donghyuck shook his head. Renjun spoke. “We didn’t see his before this, and we didn’t bring it up to anyone after it had happened. We just wanted to come to you. Maybe you could give us a reason.” Jungwoo stared blankly at the wall. “If anything, he kind of deserves it for acting like he’s above everyone else, huh?” Renjun laughed humorlessly.

Jungwoo swallowed. Should he defend Lucas? If he were to defend Lucas right now, it would be saying that Jungwoo went back to the lake after the ankle grabbing incident had occurred, and signifying that Jungwoo thought Lucas wasn’t actually a bad person.

Yes, Jungwoo didn’t think he was bad, he was annoyed by his antics, sure, but after that chat, maybe Jungwoo just thought Lucas was some misunderstood boy, who wanted the best for himself. But then again, that’s what the media always says about the perpetrator.

He told himself fuck it, that if anything, Renjun and Donghyuck believe that something is after him. If they believe that, they wouldn’t hold it over his head that he talked to Lucas and developed a new thought about him.

“I don’t think so.” Jungwoo mumbled. The two younger boys looked at him. “The other night, I went to the dock because I couldn’t sleep. I saw him there. We talked. He was nice, I made a joke about how he deserved to have his ass beat when he acts so cocky all the time, and he didn’t defend himself. I don’t think that he deserves whatever is in his head. I don’t think he can control it either.”

“So…” Renjun collected his thoughts. “Basically, you talked to Lucas, and he didn’t act like how he acts when people are watching him?” Jungwoo nodded. “Sounds like most popular kids, to be honest.”

“No, I don’t know, it just felt different. It felt like he wasn’t trying to be nice. Like that is how he really is. Like his friends put him up to be some kind of big guy, when he really isn’t.”

“Emotionally.” Donghyuck butted in. Jungwoo looked at him confused. “Physically, yes, he’s the big guy, but emotionally, no.”

“Yeah, sure.” Jungwoo sighed.

There was silence. No one knew where to take the conversation next, the theories about Lucas being behind this all were thrown out the window. Jungwoo didn’t know which direction to turn in. He was waiting for a signal that would never come.

“You should talk to your satyr again.” Renjun suggested.

“He’s going to tell me the same bullshit as last time. That it’s all just a coincidence, and I’m crazy.” Jungwoo laid back down, head feeling dizzy again. “And if I say that I suspect Lucas, it will get hostile, and if Lucas really was genuine the other night, I don’t want it to be against him. He would be under attack for something that he had no control over. Clearly.” Jungwoo shook his head and closed his eyes. He heard Donghyuck sigh.

“Make him listen. You’ve gone through all this shit just for him to say it was a coincidence? I don’t think so. He needs to know what has been happening. You should talk to him, and I’ll come with you. It will be harder for him to deny the reality of this if I tell him I had the same experiences.” Jungwoo took another deep breath in and released it. He really was glad he had a friend like Donghyuck now, and even though Renjun couldn’t relate, he believed what was happening, and it was more support than Jungwoo’s own best friends had given him. It really was more than anything he could have asked for.

Later that night, Jungwoo found himself sat between Donghyuck and Renjun, and Yuta right across from them. They were in a secluded corner of the meeting hall, to be absolutely sure no one would hear their conversation, but that didn’t matter much anyway since they were just starting the bonfire, and most of the campers had gathered to watch that take place. Out of nervous habit, and new information, he kept glancing over to the bathrooms in the other corner, where he learned Lucas had shattered a mirror.

Another thing the three of them just learned was that Yuta was also Donghyuck’s satyr. This didn’t settle well for Jungwoo as he and Donghyuck were having similar problems, and they were both brought by the same satyr. It’s been implied that satyr’s rarely make mistakes. There was no way Yuta could dismiss this as a coincidence if both he and Donghyuck were having similar happenings.

“Yes, Jungwoo talked to me a while ago. I really don’t think that he is in danger.” Yuta reasoned with Donghyuck.

“Okay, but the things that happen only keep getting worse. You can’t keep saying this was just a stroke of bad luck.”

“I didn’t say it’s a stroke of bad luck, maybe there is someone here who, regretfully, doesn’t like Jungwoo incredibly. Only a person could have done that.” Yuta gestured to the markings around Jungwoo’s neck. He tried to pretend he didn’t see people staring at them as he walked around the camp.

“But that’s the point.” Jungwoo sighed. “No one did this. It was some kind of crazy entity that wanted to punish me for trying to cross the barrier or just for being alive.”

“Cross the barrier?” Yuta questioned.

“Yes.” Jungwoo nodded. “I tried to stick my hand outside of the barrier, just to see what would happen, but the barrier was shut. I couldn’t get through.”

“Shut?” Yuta repeated.

“Yes. I couldn’t get through. A wall.”

Yuta seemed speechless at this. Finally, Jungwoo thought. Would Yuta finally believe him? That shit was actually happening to him at the camp?

“Only… Only the Gods can do that. That makes no sense. Our camp shouldn’t be shut up like that, not right now at least.” Yuta babbled. Jungwoo fought an eyeroll.

“That’s what I said.” Renjun threw in. “And not to sound rude, guys,” He directed to Jungwoo and Donghyuck. “But what would a God want with them?”

Yuta shook his head. “It’s hard to believe the Gods have interest in demigods, even their own sons or daughters. It’s even harder to believe that they might be out for one person in certain, but if Jungwoo is telling the truth, and the barrier really did close up on him, that is serious.”

“So, do you believe me now? Is this suddenly not a coincidence?”

“See, I don’t have an answer to that.” Yuta gazed at Jungwoo, ignoring the other two surrounding him. “If everything that happened to you was for a reason, the only reason it would be is that you lack any powers of a demigod, meaning you shouldn’t have been brought to this camp in the first place. But that isn’t likely either because I brought you here, and I had a feeling that you had a place here.”

“You could have been wrong.” Argued Donghyuck.

“Satyrs are barely wrong, Donghyuck.” Yuta shook his head. “I know there was a reason. But… these facts are hard to look past. Even for me, now with the knowledge that the barrier sealed itself on you.” He was silent for another moment, and Jungwoo looked around. The windows at the top of the cabin were showing that the sky was now dark, and the voices outside grew louder as the excitement of the bonfire rose. He didn’t want to go out and socialize, but he would rather do that than keep talking to Yuta.

“There is only one God that could have any malicious intent for those he does not want in the camp.”

“Hades.” Renjun whispered.

“Yes. The stories… we can’t prove them true, but it’s been known that he does not want any non-demigods here. That’s how it was. Always been.” He pursed his lips in thought, then looked back up to meet Jungwoo’s eyes. “The only logical conclusion I am drawing here is that you’re a--”

Though, Jungwoo never got to hear the end of that sentence as an uproar of screams filled the silence of the meeting hall, where the door had burst open and campers had run inside for shield from whatever was out there. Yuta didn’t seem to care about this crucial conversation anymore as he jumped up and ran out the door. The three boys exchanged looks, then decided to go out.

The bonfire had reached a height that no one had ever seen it before. It was almost hitting the treetops, and Jungwoo was scared it would burn the whole camp down. Campers were running for safety in any building nearly and ducking behind trees, but most were standing out, mesmerized, intrigued. Across the way, he saw Lucas watching, mix of confusion and fear on his face as the orange lit up his features. Jungwoo noticed a bandage around one of his hands, and remembered that whole ordeal. They met eyes. Lucas seemed like he wanted to run, but he stayed.

The counselors and satyrs helping could not seem to dampen the fire no matter what they did, it only grew bigger and stronger. Jungwoo’s heart was racing, and as much as he wanted to hide as well, he was rooted in the spot, the two boys on either side of him, eyes hurting from the bright light.

Like a movie sequence, there was a burst of white light and then the flames parted, and stepping out of them was a man. Not so much a natural looking man, but held the somewhat features of humans, hard to miss. He had black hair reaching to just above his shoulders, slick off the forehead, lowing red eyes, ones that Jungwoo knew he had seen before. He was wearing a deep red snakeskin patterned suit, like he was pulling up to a fucking banquet for murder, and his shoes shone with the reflection of the fire light.

Jungwoo didn’t want to believe this was happening, but he also knew it was too real that Hades, God of the Underworld, had just stepped foot into Camp Half-Blood.

It was at this point that campers started to run and scream, looking for an escape, or place of solace. Hades’ deep tan skin glinted in the yellow light, and he looked around. No one who stayed made a move.

Hades stretched out an arm. “Hand them over.” He spoke to the head counselors, who seemed just as confused as the campers were. “Now!” Demanded the God, impatient.

“What are we handing over?” A satyr spoke up. “Your children? They’re over there, if you need them.” He pointed to the group of kids in black, most looking scared, but Lucas had a different look on his face. One that Jungwoo couldn’t read so perfectly.

Hades’ head turned to where he pointed, raised an eyebrow, and beckoned one forward. They all looked around at each other, but Lucas’ head did not move, instead, his legs did, and he was walking towards Hades.

Hades clasped Lucas’ face in his hands and whispered something to him. By his actions, they looked sentimental, of a reunion between father and son, but turned harsh, as if he were demanding the boy of something. Lucas remained pokerfaced. He did not seem to answer to whatever Hades was asking of him. Hades shoved him backwards at once, turning around and scanning the crowd.

Horrifically, like he was having one of his surreal nightmares again, Hades caught his attention, and he called them forth with a curl of his finger. When the three of them slowly walked forward, Hades flicked his wrist backward, and Jungwoo saw Renjun stumble back, as if he was hit on the chest. He made the calling motion again, and only Jungwoo and Donghyuck walked forward.

“Don’t know what to hand over, yet they stand here and watch so innocently?” His deep voice rumbled in Jungwoo’s ears, making his knees weak. He wanted to look over to Lucas but he willed himself not to, he was deathly afraid of breaking eye contact with the God of the Underworld.

“Why us?” Donghyuck jabbed. Times like this, Jungwoo had so much respect for Donghyuck being able to defend himself in situations where death was highly likely, like now. It seemed so applicable that at a snap of Hades’ fingers they could crumble, but he still would want to go down with a fight.

“Why?” Hades mirrored. “You don’t belong.” He whispered venomously into his face, speech slurring like a snake’s tongue, but Donghyuck stood his ground, though he did not speak further.

“Cleaning up the mess the camp made, letting the filth of the population in, I’ve given it plenty of time, I’ve given my son plenty of time! He did not follow through with the task!” Hades’ voice thundered across the grounds. “He did not complete the task of eliminating those who don’t belong!” He extended another hand towards Lucas and the boy fell to his knees, screaming, writhing in pain, as if he were being ripped apart from the inside out. He clawed at his throat as if to release the hands there, restricting him of breath. Jungwoo wanted to scream so badly, but he couldn’t, his voice was gone from him.

He lifted the hand and Lucas fell to the ground, breathing in relief, but limbs weak, unable to hold himself up.

“Since no one around here wants to pick up the mess they have made, I’ll take it into my own hands. Since my son does not follow the orders he was given, I’ll do him a favor and kill the mortals myself.”

Quiet. Too quiet. Was this real? Was Jungwoo still standing? Mortals? Jungwoo was a mortal? Jungwoo was mortal. In Camp Half-Blood. Donghyuck was mortal. They crossed the barrier, they had things happen that were unheard of, Jungwoo had hurt and gotten hurt despite enchantments given only to those who should be protected by them, it made sense. It made horrific sense. He was mortal. He was not a demigod. They were not demigods. They were going to die because they are mortals.

He felt a vacuum suction at his back and he was pulled backwards, into the heat of the fire, his eyes rolling back into his head as they descended. He recalls last reaching a hand outward into the crowd, desperate to lock arms with Lucas who had jumped in after them. Screams; he heard his name somewhere in the crowd, he heard the cracking of ash and wood, he heard his name come from Lucas’ mouth. It was quiet as he was still being pulled backward, and he fainted.

As if he had some sort of seventh sense, Jungwoo knew immediately when he woke up on a cold tile floor, rope around his hands and feet and the distant sound of thunder and screams of agony, that he was in the Underworld.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy i used the 'hades comes to the camp through the fire' cliche


	7. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! wicked sorry for the super late update. writers block got the best of me, but i am back. thank you for 3.7k and whatever this hits when you guys read the new update. i love yall sm, new nct fic is being worked on (not chaptered... cant do this shit again)  
> anyways enjoy this mediocre chapter. sorry for any awkward grammar mistakes, i hate proofreading lol

The feeling of serenity that’s achieved when one takes a casual stroll through the forest is a feeling many people wish they could achieve in their daily life. The bird’s songs fill one’s brain with peacefulness, the crunch of the foliage under the soles of their feet feel electrifying to the senses. The cool blue light that is cast through the canopy as the sun sets, it’s a feeling that can’t be accomplished in many other settings.

There are other calming aspects of life than just the outdoors. Sounds, places, rarely people, but there are some mixed in. The sound of clacking shoes against a marble floor, echoing off the walls of a grand structure. The dripping of raindrops off of tree leaves at dawn, after a storm. A full city at dusk.

The feelings these situations create have no name, yet all of the emotion in the world packed inside of them. How? How can such a simple thing like that be so beneficial to the soul? Healing, hurting, living and dying all in one. It’s feelings like those, emotions like those that there might never be an answer to. They just… happen.

Jungwoo doesn’t know if he will ever experience those feelings and emotions again. He brings himself to a happier place. He takes himself back to his home. Not Camp Half-Blood by any means, that place was far from home to him, especially after the knowledge he was graced with—last night? Last week? Jungwoo lost track of time.

In his home, it’s just him. In his room with the windows shining a soft white light, he’s lying there on his comforter that conforms to his body like a cloud, if they were tangible. He feels weightless. He feels like the sun will never set, it will forever sit on the brink of the horizon and keep his world shining, even with just a sliver of the whole. Timeless. Here, Jungwoo feels like time doesn’t exist.

Timelessness is a feeling Jungwoo loves. Unfortunately for him, his current situation also feels timeless.

He had managed to get a better look at where he was. He wanted to shut his eyes for as long as possible to avoid getting too familiar with his surroundings. He knows the floor he lies on is black tile, marble, possibly, it’s cold and hard, and smooth like glass. He knows he is bound at the wrists to something. It feels like rope, but he would know better than to think the God of the Underworld would keep a mortal hostage by simple rope around the wrists.

He knows the ceiling goes high above his head. How many feet, he isn’t sure, more like miles. There are scattered pillars attaching the floor to said ceiling, and no windows. And if there are windows, it’s constantly dark outside.

Outside. Jungwoo doesn’t even know where he is. He doesn’t know if where he is, is on the grid. Is he under it, above it? Another dimension away from Earth? Jungwoo doesn’t have answers. He is afraid he will never get them, either.

He hasn’t seen Donghyuck since the night at the camp. He doesn’t know if the boy is okay, has been released, or god forbid, is dead. His heart and chest pains with that thought, and he sends his hardest prayers to anyone listening that Donghyuck is okay. Jungwoo has no idea what the young boy could be doing right now. Was he fine alone? Was he being hurt? Was he being neglected much like Jungwoo was? Jungwoo would do anything to have him by his side, give any answers if he knew them, and just to make sure he wasn’t alone.

He suddenly remembered that Lucas jumped after them. Lucas was here somewhere. As if he didn’t know where Donghyuck was, he knew even less of Lucas’ whereabouts. Was Lucas in on this? Was it Lucas who told Hades that there were mortals in the camp? That question arose even more confusing questions than answers. If that were so, how did Lucas know he was a mortal when Jungwoo himself didn’t even know? Why did Lucas talk to him with such an attitude if all he wanted was to kick him out? Easy answer for that one, false friendship creates false opinions on people.

Jungwoo shivered on the cold floor. He had no beginning of an idea as to when anything was going to happen to him. Part of him wondered if he would lay here forever, never to return to camp, his home, his friends. He felt like every time he moved, the bounds on his wrists grew tighter. There were no bounds on the rest of his body, but he felt sore everywhere, as if it were impossible to move at all.

In a way, he was afraid to move, as it would trigger some kind of hell hound to come after him and show him his place, which was lying there lifeless and quiet. He was tired. He was so tired but no matter how still he was, no matter how dark the room got when he closed his eyes, he knew sleep would never come that easy. Not when his wrists burned with friction and his shoulder was digging into the floor.

He jumped hard when a door at the end of the grand room bust open and the sound of footsteps filled the silent air. Jungwoo’s head shot up, but he placed it back down, scrunching his face after a pain shot up the side of his neck due to moving it so fast. He groaned and tried to roll over, but decided to stay still when his whole body resisted movement, and he only maneuvered his eyes.

All he could see was a pair of big black boots come to a stop in front of him, the things were heavily laced up with buckles and short spikes at the toe, and Jungwoo was sure there was even some heel on them. There was no skin showing where they came to a halt at the top, but rather black pants, and some more buckles wrapped around the legs. The person knelt down to get a better look at Jungwoo.

The fact that the door was some ways away behind the person, the light leaking in from the exit was helping to distinguish the person’s silhouette. It seemed that they were holding a short staff in one hand, the other resting on their knee. Jungwoo sighed.

The person lifted the staff and tapped it on the ground once, and light poured out of the orb sat at the top. Jungwoo squinted hard, not used to the rays being shone directly into his face, so it took him a second to assess the person in front of him.

At first glance, it’s male features, but they were wearing heavily smudged eyeliner with a touch of glittery gold in there, and their eyes were glistening the same tone of the warm color. His, or their, lips were pursed, pierced eyebrows scrunched in what could only be confusion, and a breath escaped their lips.

He nudged Jungwoo’s head to the side with the end of the staff he was holding, that looked like it was made out of some kind of driftwood, and the orb on top was skull shaped and held into place by mangled pieces of said wood. Jungwoo grunted when the hard end pushed his sensitive cheek over to the side.

“How long have you been down here?” His voice was light, but clearly straight to the point, no time for beating around the bush.

“I don’t know.” Jungwoo could only muster up a whisper. He genuinely doesn’t know how long it’s been since he has used his voice.

“Don’t know?” He accused.

“Yeah,” He whimpered, trying to adjust himself yet again, but failing as he was in pain. “I don’t know what day it is. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know where anyone else is.”

“Anyone else? You came down here with people?”

Jungwoo grunted again. “Yes. My friend Donghyuck, and—” He almost said, ‘my friend Lucas’ but are they friends? That was never established. There was no friendship between them., simply some weird meetings and odd tension that can’t be resolved. And the fact that Lucas was supposed to carry out some deed given to him by his father, but he refused to. That’s too much to explain, though.

“And…?” The man drug out the word expectantly.

“And a kid named Lucas.”

The man closed his eyes and breathed a laugh through his nose. His smile of faux humor showed off white, straight teeth. Jungwoo was jealous.

“Lucas… right… what a guy. I know Lucas. If you came down here with Lucas, and Donghyuck, as you just said, then you must be Junghoon!”

“J-Jungwoo.” He stammered out.

“Ah, right, right.” He shook his head, laughing at himself. “So many people down here, too many names to keep at the front of the ol’ noggin.” Jungwoo just stared. “Jungwoo?” Said boy nodded slowly. “Let’s get you out of here. I think someone might have forgotten about you.”

With a hard tap on the floor from his staff, the restraints that had bound him to the floor had lifted, and he felt instant relief, and started to stand. He was unstable on his feet, wobbled a bit, but once he was fully standing, the man looked at him once again.

“Oh, right. Got to make sure,” The man reached into the leather jacket he was wearing and pulled out a wand-looking thing, no longer than six to seven inches, gleaming silver with a glowing red base. He pressed it hard into Jungwoo’s left shoulder and there was a hot flash of pain, as if Jungwoo had been shot, burned, tore apart from the inside. He screeched, short and loud, and collapsed hard back onto the floor, head making impact on the slick tile, grabbing his shoulder in agony. He heard a gasp from above him.

“What the fuck?” He groaned out, head throbbing from where it slammed on the tile.

“Oh shit, oh God,” The man picked up his tiny wand and pressed it into Jungwoo again, and even though he was expecting more pain, it all drained away from his body, and Jungwoo was relieved once again.

“What the hell was that for?!” Jungwoo yelled at him. The man held a hand up to his face and rubbed hard, seeming to be in a state of panic.

“I did not expect that. It’s just procedure that we make sure everyone who gets down here is demigod, demigods aren’t supposed to feel any pain at all, but you felt it. Oh no, you’re human. Why are you down here, oh God, I wasn’t trained to deal with this.” He began to pace erratically, but Jungwoo did nothing to stop it as he was angry that he had created such a searing pain in his body.

“Trained? Who even are you? What is going on? Where the fuck am I?” Jungwoo demanded answers, because, for all he knows, it’s been days since he started asking himself the same questions and answers to those just didn’t exist. He was tired of being kept in the dark. He wanted to know what was going on.

The man didn’t listen. He paced frantically, mumbling to himself about how he was in trouble and ‘he will be so mad’. Jungwoo was growing frustrated with the lack of attention. He stood up and grabbed the guy by his shoulders to force him to listen and look.

“Answer me.” Jungwoo stared straight into his eyes. His face was under-cast from the illuminated orb that was being held by his side, but he looked afraid. “Who are you, first of all?”

“Um, my name is Kun. I work for M—um, Hades. I’m like a servant. Just… doing civil duties.”

“I find that hard to believe, but whatever. Kun.” Kun nodded. “Next, where am I?”

“Hell?” Kun offered as an answer.

“Why was that a question?”

“Because… well…” Kun sighed. “Technically, you are in Hell, but… Away from Hell?” Jungwoo looked like he was about to get angry again, so Kun held up his hands in defense. “Hell is here. But this place we are in, it’s like, Hell’s mansion, consider it, is far away from actual Hell. Where all of the damned souls are.”

Jungwoo let go of Kun’s shoulders and dropped his hands to his sides. He sighed. “So, this is Hell? Hell’s mansion?” Kun nodded. “Where Hades lives?” He nodded again. “Why am I here?”

Kun shook his head, looking like he wished he knew the answer. “I don’t know. I can’t tell you.” He sighed, eyebrows furrowing in fear and bewilderment, before his head popped up again. “But maybe someone can.”

Kun dashed away and Jungwoo sighed and followed after him, not nearly at the same speed as the other boy. Jungwoo feels like this whole thing is going to be a letdown. There really is no way out, and this is his new life. Jungwoo is destined to become like Kun, a servant to Hades and stabbing everyone in the underbellies of the mansion to see if they are demigods or not.

Kun’s pace was far too fast for Jungwoo to keep up with, he had to call after him to tell him to slow down, but Kun only told him to speed up.

He paid close attention to the walls as they walked down the long hallway with high, arching ceilings. Bright lights shone down in intervals and made the dark tile sparkle with every step. The hallway was far too long for his liking, too many questions reeled through his mind while Kun was being quiet and leading him to his death for all he knew.

The walls themselves were a fleshy color, made of smooth stone, and they were broken up by protruding pillars attached to the sides that extended all the way up to the curved ceiling and met at the top. Long, dark black pillars that seemed a bit too dark to be real, existing, but he is in Hell, so nothing is real nor existing down here, technically.

Step after step, Jungwoo was getting frustrated, but they finally turned a corner, into another hallway that looked exactly the same. Jungwoo sighed.

“Almost there, it’s a long walk, I know.” Kun tried to reassure, but Jungwoo was getting fed up with Kun as well.

Jungwoo was getting lost in thought again, thinking of Donghyuck, Lucas, and Ten and Jaehyun, what could be going on at the camp, what’s going on outside of these walls and pillars. His train of thought was abruptly interrupted by a scream coming from his direct left, and with horror, he realized that they were no longer walking among walls and pillars, but bars, cells, dark caverns that held what seemed to be souls. Or people. Or both.

Jungwoo swallowed harshly at the image of a soul desperate to claw its way out of the cell, get Jungwoo to let him out.

The further down the corridor they traveled, the less certain Jungwoo was that they were in a ‘mansion’. Albeit, that is how Kun described it, and he for sure knows the place better than Jungwoo did. All he knew so far was the long vacant hallways of trapped souls and a large dark room with cold floors.

“Is this actually a mansion?” Jungwoo questioned, seeing as Kun wasn’t taking him to his destination anytime soon.

“Oh, we certainly are,” Kun answered, sounding much surer in himself than he did ten minutes ago. “These are, as some would call them, the underbellies. It’s a large underground system of tunnels, or hallways, they don’t really look like tunnels, and we keep souls down here, extras down here.”

“So, what I’m getting from that is you keep souls whose placement is undecided and shit you don’t use upstairs down here.”

Kun laughed. “You’re catching on now!”

They approached a closed door and Kun swung it open. Jungwoo peered inside to a long staircase, the end of it couldn’t even be seen due to the lack of light. Kun gestured his hand forward, letting Jungwoo take the first step. Jungwoo only stared ludicrously at Kun, as if to silently say ‘You’re insane if you think I am going first.’ Kun didn’t move. Jungwoo sighed and placed his foot on the first step, and he felt a whirring in his stomach, and he felt like he was plummeting from a 100-foot drop.

He flailed his arm, desperate to secure himself on something, but there was nothing but air, and he kept falling, and falling. He tried to take a few deep breaths, but his throat was being strangled, no air was getting in and none was getting out. He was sure he was going to die.

With the impact of running into a brick wall, the spinning stopped, and he landed on the floor. Jungwoo’s knees buckled underneath him and he planted himself on the floor hard, groaning with the impact. Kun, however, was looking down at Jungwoo as he struggled to regain his composure.

“First timers always fall down. It’s kind of funny to watch. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.”

Jungwoo furrowed his eyebrows as he lifted his shaky legs to support himself. “How many times am I going to be in the basement that I need to get used to that?” Kun only shrugged.

“Some go down many times. Some never go back.” Jungwoo sighed, dusted off his shorts and followed Kun.

After the initial shock and frustration wore off, his eyes widened when he realized where he currently was. A grand foyer, deep black tiles, similar to the ones Jungwoo was very familiar with, but much more lighted, wide, tall, shiny. Pillars extended from the floor to the ceiling, which had carefully carved crowning and detailed paintings of gruesome souls getting what they deserved, an eternity in Hell, Hades standing at the pit, all of the souls begging for attention. Even though Jungwoo was so far away from the canvas that seemed to touch the sky, he felt like Hades’ depiction was staring straight into him. His fiery eyes, unblinking, knew all of his secrets. He forced himself to look away.

“Where are we going? Are we there yet?” Jungwoo questioned, needing to get that glare off of his neck.

“Calm down. We’re here. After you.” Kun stepped aside and let Jungwoo through a grand set of double doors, where he felt just as lost as he was previously feeling. Kun came in front of Jungwoo and led him further through the room, and once Jungwoo’s eyes adjusted, he realized it was a large… what could only be described as a church-like altar. There were no pews, like a church would offer, but a long center aisle, the two made their way down, footsteps echoing. The closer they got to the altar, there were voices being heard. Jungwoo tried to locate them, but they seemed to bounce off the walls, circling his head. He looked around, trying to find someone, only to be met with darkness.

“Stop whipping your head around like that, you’ll give yourself whiplash. You won’t find them, if you’re looking for who is whispering in your ears. They’re just entities.”

Kun gestured him forward, and Jungwoo reluctantly followed. Kun grabbed onto his wrist, which shocked Jungwoo, and forced his palm onto the smooth granite surface of the altar. There was a loud crack, then the whirring which made Jungwoo’s stomach spin returned.

Jungwoo could feel the nausea rising in his throat, and he closed his eyes hoping it would block out the feeling. It stopped after a minute, luckily. When he opened his eyes, he realized they were in the same spot they were in five seconds ago, at that alter. He looked around, the place was the same, nothing at all changed.

“Was that some kind of joke? What happened?” Kun sighed at Jungwoo’s restlessness.

“Relax. We just summoned someone who I am sure you would like to ensure wouldn’t be in terrible danger.” Kun turned towards the open space, as if waiting for someone to fall through the ceiling. After another few seconds, even Kun looked surprised, and he gulped.

“Uh, hah. Where is he?” He pressed his palm to the marble again, a flash of light, but nothing happened. Kun seemed to be panicking now, which didn’t make Jungwoo feel any better.

“What the fuck is going on, Kun? I thought you knew what you were doing?” Kun laughed nervously and shuffled the both of them away from the altar.

“So, here’s the thing. By doing that, I was going to bring your friend, Donghyuck, back from wherever he is, but he isn’t coming, and, well, that could mean some bad news.”

“What?” Jungwoo stopped short, making Kun face him. “Where is Donghyuck? If he is hurt, I swear,”

Kun shrugged. “It’s not my fault, but also, what can you do? It’s Hades we’re talking about. If he finds someone he wants to hurt, he will hurt them. I know you don’t want your friend being hurt, and I am trying to help you both.”

Jungwoo scoffed. “You are a servant to Satan, practically. Why should I believe you are trying to help us? And Lucas? I’m trying to get Lucas back, also.” Jungwoo regretted that sentence as soon as it came out of his mouth, but luckily Kun glided right past it.

Kun sighed again. “I’m just repenting for my sins before I get moved up to limbo, okay? I’m not a demon.”

“Sins?” Kun looked smug at this. He shrugged.

“A few armed robberies and keeping some hostages in captivity for a few years counts as sins, I guess.”

Jungwoo was mortified. “You’re never going to Heaven.”

“I can have hope, okay?” Kun snarled. He regained his composure. “Anyways, I can go try to find your friend in the gates. If he wasn’t summoned like that, he is probably in the gates, but, no guarantee that he will be okay.” Jungwoo sighed in defeat and shook his head. “And Lucas, I know where he is, but it will be a task to get him away. I’m sure Hades has him on lock.”

“Whatever it takes to get Donghyuck back. And try your best for Lucas.”

Kun raised an eyebrow and slammed his staff on the floor, producing that whirring feeling again, but Jungwoo was better contained that the last few times.

They soon arrived at another dark room, three dark walls and right in front of them were what Jungwoo could only assume are ‘the gates’. They lived up to their name. Large, black, wrought iron gates were in front of them, and behind them was an expanse of a hallway, one that Jungwoo sure as hell didn’t want to go down. It looked dark, and damp, and filled with souls. He hoped Kun wouldn’t drag him down there.

“You can’t come. I’ll go look for your friend for you, wait here. Don’t let the souls temp you.”

“No promises.” Kun said nothing in response as he glided one of the gates open and quickly shut it behind him, seeing an entity waste no time in snuggling up next to him. With a flick of his hand, Kun cast a light from his palm and it made the entity shoot away from him, slamming against the hallway, and Kun continued on with the light shining from his hand.

The entity wiggled its way up to the gates, and there must have been some sort of spell that sat over the gates, the entity was not able to slide right through the bars. It stared at Jungwoo with the black pits for eyes. Jungwoo felt uncomfortable, but overall fine considering he knew it couldn’t escape.

“Hey.” Jungwoo said to it. The entity just floated. “How’s it hanging down here.” The entity growled. “Cool, cool. How long have you been down here?” Another growl. “Wow. That sucks.” Jungwoo bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for Kun to return, giving up conversation with the entity (he gave up before he even spoke to it, but he needed something to do while he was waiting).

Eventually, he saw the man come back down the hallway with what looked to be a body over his shoulder, and Jungwoo started to panic, the sense that everything would be fine leaving him quickly. Kun walked closer, shooting the entity away again, and slid out of the gate, and with horror, Jungwoo realized that the body slung over his shoulder was Donghyuck.

Kun walked forward and set the boy on the ground, and Jungwoo was terrified at the sight. It was Donghyuck, that was for sure, but he was unconscious, and he looked beaten. Jungwoo knelt down and took the boy’s face in his hands, turning it both ways, seeing bruises on his cheekbones and a cut below his right eye. Jungwoo was saddened by the sight. He looked up to Kun.

“What is this?” Jungwoo was getting angry, and he needed to remind himself that this wasn’t Kun’s fault. Kun did not do this to Donghyuck. He changed his tone. “Why is he like this?”

“I told you, no guarantees that he is okay. You would have ended up there, too, but you were in the dungeon for some reason.” Kun stood over Jungwoo.

“We can’t leave him here.”

“Oh, and we’re not.” Kun knelt down to crouch beside Donghyuck as well. “I’m going to wake him up.” Kun reached into his jacket and pulled out his wand looking thing, the one that felt like a bullet in Jungwoo’s shoulder. He stopped Kun immediately.

“Woah, woah, woah, you are not going to hurt him to wake him up.” Kun stared at Jungwoo.

“Do you want him to wake up or not? I can’t bring him back to consciousness any other way.” Jungwoo sighed and he looked down at Donghyuck. The boy had clearly seen some shit. From context clues, Jungwoo knew that Donghyuck was suffering inside and out. He would hate to put the boy through even more physical pain, but he needs Donghyuck to be awake right now. He sighed and backed up, letting Kun do his thing.

He pressed the wand to the same place that he pressed it to Jungwoo, and he cringed, knowing the feeling. The boy stirred, and all at once he shot up, screaming in pain, face scrunched. Jungwoo placed his hand on Donghyuck head as comfort, and when the want was pulled away, he whimpered, and moved towards the sensation of another touch. Jungwoo cradled Donghyuck’s head, and then pulled the boy in to hug him.

“Donghyuck, it’s me, can you hear me?” Jungwoo spoke to him.

“Of course, he can hear you.” Kun piped in.

“Shut it.” Jungwoo jabbed without looking at him. The boy’s eyes shot open, he blinked a few times, and then looked up at Jungwoo.

“Holy shit.” Donghyuck whispered before enveloping Jungwoo in a hug. All throughout his body, Jungwoo was just relieved that Donghyuck was okay. If only one of them was going to make it out of here, it was going to be Donghyuck.

“Donghyuck, what happened? What do you remember?”

“Well-” Kun started, but Jungwoo snapped his head up at him.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Kun raised his hands in surrender, and let the two speak.

Donghyuck shivered even though it was nowhere near cold. “I don’t know. I remember being at camp, and I remember the fire, and… holy shit. Hades. Hades came out of the fire and took us. I remember that.”

“Yes, I do, too, but you don’t remember why you are all scratched up like this?”

Donghyuck looked at Jungwoo with a confused look, and then brought his hands up to his face. He flinched when he pressed down on a sensitive bruise, and just assumed from that one, his face looked worse.

“I… have no idea. I don’t remember anything. I…” He looked up and around, similar to the reaction that Jungwoo himself had. “I don’t even know where we are.”

“We’re in Hell.” Jungwoo answered.

“Hell’s mansion.” Corrected Kun.

“Shut up, Kun, you’re really getting on my nerves.”

“Who is this guy?”

Jungwoo leaned in closer to whisper to Donghyuck. “I don’t know but I’m letting him lead me around because he untied me from the dungeon or whatever so I guess he’s good.”

Kun sighed behind them. “I told you, Jungwoo, I’m being a servant to repent for some of my sins.”

Jungwoo could see that Donghyuck wanted to ask what kind of sins, but Jungwoo cut him off. “Don’t ask. Just know they are sins.” Jungwoo stood up and held out his hands for Donghyuck to steady himself on. He was a bit wobbly, but stood up just fine, and they both turned to Kun. He looked between the two, lost.

“Well? You were about to speak before so speak now. What happened to him?” Jungwoo questioned.

Kun shrugged. “It’s just the entities being near something new. The fact that I pulled you out of there a whole human instead of an entity says that Hades was saving you. Or maybe it means you can’t dissolve up in there since you are human and not demigod. Whichever it is, it’s not a fantastic reason to be down here.”

“Fuck,” Jungwoo heard Donghyuck whisper. “I’m mortal. I forgot about that.”

“You weren’t wrong though. Your doubts were correct.” Jungwoo reasoned, really hoping that the boy wouldn’t become sad at the new discovery. “Don’t think about it. We need to get out of ere first, and back to camp, and they will tell us what to do from there, okay?” Donghyuck only nodded at this. Jungwoo took it as a good enough sign and he turned back to Kun. “Now Lucas. Where is Lucas?”

Kun sighed. “You’re awfully pushy.”

“Take me to Lucas.” Jungwoo demanded. “I need to get out of here. You can do this whenever you want with whoever you want since you’ll be down here forever anyways.” Kun scoffed, but led them down the hallway anyway.

He turned around. “Oh, we’re about to teleport, so, hold on to him or something, and try not to throw up.” Donghyuck didn’t question it and simply grabbed onto Jungwoo’s elbow, and they took off into spins and loops until they landed on black marble tiles in a grand hallway. At least this one had some lights.

Jungwoo could see Donghyuck marveling at the place out of the corner of his eye, so he dragged the boy along while Kun led them deeper into the mansion.

He no longer payed attention to what was around them, he followed Kun as he took the two down yet another hallway, and they stopped at two doors.

“Listen. I’m just the servant. I can’t get Lucas back for you. You will have to do that yourselves.” Kun opened the door slightly and peeked through. “I don’t think Hades is here, lucky you, so make it fast. No promises that you won’t get caught though.”

He swung open the door and Jungwoo bounded in, followed closely by Donghyuck. It was a big open space, similar to the one that Jungwoo found himself in, but much more furnished, and able to live in. He didn’t take in the rest of the scenery due to a fireplace to the right catching his eye, and he recognized the blonde head of hair with his back facing towards them.

Jungwoo walked over to him, and the sound of footsteps got his attention. He looked… brittle, when he turned to look at them, but at the shock of seeing who it was, his face lit up, and he stood.

 “Lucas…” Jungwoo said in relief, but it trailed off at the sight of a nasty cut running down the left side of his face. He was about to ask if he was okay, but Lucas brushed the question away.

“I’m fine. What are you doing here? How did you guys escape?” Lucas seemed genuinely concerned.

“This guy named Kun helped me get out, then we went to find Donghyuck, because I sure as hell was not coming to find you without him.”

“Oh, Kun. Good, at least it wasn’t one of the others. They sure as hell would have put you through some kind of maze. Thank god you didn’t, though. Where were you?”

Jungwoo spoke first. “I was in some kind of dungeon thing, at least, that’s what Kun called it. My hands and feet were tied together. We came up to some kind of gate where Donghyuck was. We got him out, then Kun took us to get you.”

“You…” Lucas started, looked between the two standing in front of him, and back to Jungwoo. He looked to the door nervously. “I have a few questions, but we need to hurry. He won’t be gone forever.”

“He?” Donghyuck asked.

“Hades,” Jungwoo answered for him. “What’s your questions? And could they wait? Could we get out of here first?”

Lucas looked around the room, Jungwoo didn’t need to follow suit to know that the only entrance and exit are right behind them. “No.” He turned to the fire, to the door, and then made eye contact with Jungwoo. “Why did you come for me? I’d be fine. You guys need to get out.”

“You jumped in after me Lucas,” Jungwoo cried. “There was no way I was going to leave without you. This wasn’t your fault in the first place, and then you come in and try to stop this from happening. I wasn’t going to fucking leave without you.” He paused. “You don’t deserve to be down here just as much as we do.” He bit his tongue, and remembered what Donghyuck and Renjun had said about Lucas. The bathroom incident. His hand, the mirror, asking someone to get out of his head. “From what I’ve heard, you didn’t want this to happen. He was in your head just like he was in ours.” He gestured to Donghyuck. “We couldn’t leave without you.”

Lucas said nothing, simply held eye contact. He broke it at once, and looked over to Donghyuck, then downwards, and sighed. “I know that.” He whispered. “I didn’t want this to happen either, for some reason I was the chosen one. Honestly, I’d rather it be me than another son. They would probably have carried out the task.”

“The task,” Donghyuck stated. “He said that. What did that mean?”

He looked reluctant to share this information, as if it would hurt them somehow. Hard to hurt them more than they were already hurt. “He wanted me to get rid of the mortals. You.”

“If we are mortals in the camp how did we get there in the first place?” Donghyuck asked.

Lucas shrugged. “The most of what I’ve pieced together from listening to him is that the barrier was faulty a few years ago, and none of the other sons wanted to carry out this heavy task.” He shook his head. “I know what that sounds like, too. Like I took the task of killing you. That’s not what it was. It was supposed to be get you out of camp. When I failed to do that, he wanted to take different measures, and actually wants you dead now for not leaving.” The two said nothing. “I know it sounds fucked up and crazy, but that is who we are dealing with, here.”

Jungwoo just nodded slowly, trying to process this. Now, he was worried about the question of if he will make it out alive. He didn’t ask that one. He figured Lucas didn’t have the answer for that either.

“What now?” Jungwoo spoke lowly. Lucas looked at him. He shrugged.

The three of them looked to one another, Jungwoo and Donghyuck turned back to Lucas after ultimately not knowing anything about where they were, or what to do. Lucas spoke. “We get out, I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo i never said this fic wasnt going to be sad. brace for that.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on twitter to shout at me if i decide to slack on this, please: @_ilstagram


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